


These are the High School Days of Our Lives

by Tahnex



Category: RWBY
Genre: Alternate Universe - High School, Angst, Eventual Romance, F/F, F/M, Fluff, High School, Humor, If I think of other tags I'll add them in, Romance, Slow Burn
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-05-16
Updated: 2021-02-24
Packaged: 2021-03-02 22:21:04
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 8
Words: 40,553
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24214333
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Tahnex/pseuds/Tahnex
Summary: Ruby has been moved up two years and is now attending Beacon High with her sister Yang and several other recognisable students.
Relationships: Blake Belladonna/Yang Xiao Long, Coco Adel/Velvet Scarlatina, Jaune Arc/Pyrrha Nikos, Lie Ren/Nora Valkyrie, Ruby Rose/Weiss Schnee
Comments: 50
Kudos: 129





	1. August Year 1

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Ruby's first day at a new school, she's been moved ahead two years and is understandably a little nervous.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> First chapter covers the first day of school and the last day of August.
> 
> Also, a bit of a trigger warning: There’s some anxiety in here and a brief description of a panic attack.

It was the last day of August and it was colder than normal when Ruby woke up, and she figured that matched the way she was feeling today. Lying in bed staring at the ceiling she tried to ignore the echoes in her chest and how they were building up. “Just a normal day. That’s all it is. A normal day at school.” She lay there for several more minutes, breathing slowly and deeply, before her scroll started beeping loudly and incessantly. Groaning she leaned over and grabbed her scroll, turning the alarm off. She lay in bed for another five minutes, scrolling through various social media before a second alarm, less raucous than the first, started. Turning this one off as well, she got up and walked over to her wardrobe, eyes looking over the large pile of clothes at the bottom before rummaging and grabbing a pair of dark jeans with a little bit of fading, as well as a short sleeve black t-shirt, a small but ornate rose design on the left breast. Ruby moved the clothes from the pile in her wardrobe to the bed before kicking a few clothes back into the wardrobe and closing the doors, sealing them shut with a little hook.

Slipping into the hallway she looked across the hall at her sister’s door, mercifully it was still closed. Maybe if she was quick enough, she’d actually be able to get a hot shower before Yang used every last drop of the hot water. Tiptoeing down the hall she opened the bathroom door very slowly, waiting for any sound of protest inside (since having once accidentally walked in on her dad using the toilet, she was ALWAYS cautious when opening the door). As she’d expected there wasn’t any, so Ruby nipped inside, closed and locked the door, before turning the shower on. Big enough for two people, she had always liked the shower, enough pressure to almost give a mini massage on your shoulders, but light enough that it never hurt. Stripping down she dropped her pyjamas in a pile near the door, placed a fresh towel within arms reach of the shower, and then looked in the mirror.

Large silver eyes stared back at Ruby, thin eyebrows above them were raised ever so slightly, slightly pale skin decorated her body, and her black hair reached just above her shoulders, the tips were a dark red fading upwards into the black. No one had ever been able to explain how that was natural, but for her and her Mum it just had been. Shaking her head to move her thoughts away from her Mum she looked at the rest of her body. Skinny, with little muscle definition, she looked over herself, not exactly liking what she saw, a bit too thin for her liking, she always felt like she could do with filling out a bit more, but her metabolism was just too quick. No matter how many cookies she ate she never seemed to put on weight.

By this time the mirror had been slowly covered in condensation and when Ruby opened her eyes again, she was unable to make any details out in the mirror. Sighing, she stepped into the shower, appreciating the waterfall on her shoulders for a minute or two before grabbing her shampoo from the caddy on the wall. Getting out of the shower a few minutes later she dried off, wrapped the towel around herself, stuck her head out to check the coast was clear, then grabbed her pyjamas and went back to her room. Throwing them onto her bed she rooted in a drawer, got some fresh underwear out and put it on, before drying her hair with the towel. Once it was no longer soaking and merely damp, Ruby put the top and jeans on, found some socks, and headed downstairs to see what was in the kitchen for breakfast. As she left her room a tantalising smell hit her nose and she grinned. Bacon. Yang’s door was still closed, so that meant it was Dad. And if it was Dad, then it wasn’t just going to be bacon alone. Skipping into the kitchen, her mind fully focused on the delicious smells before her, she smiled widely upon spotting her Dad in front of the oven.

“Hey Dad! Special breakfast by any chance?”

Her Dad turned around and he grinned right back, “You know it kiddo, bacon, eggs, sausage, and pancakes, the full works.” Giving him a tight hug around his waist, Ruby headed away from the kitchen to the sofa and TV, jumping onto it and firing up Netflix to see what was on. She’d just turned the latest season of She-Ra on when she heard a noise that wouldn’t have sounded out of place in a horror movie.

“Mmmmrrraaaaargghh” Spinning around, Ruby stared at the source of the noise. Bare legs staggered down the stairs, the hem of an oversized t-shirt reaching the thighs, and curls of blonde hair was visible around the lower back. Rubbing her lilac eyes with the back of one hand, her older sister Yang came down the stairs, clearly still waking up. “Is that…” She yawned again, “Is that bacon?”

“No, I’m using the grill actually.” Ruby rolled her eyes, of course her Dad would be making puns. Yang had to have got it from somewhere. “Yes sunflower, it’s bacon, eggs, sausage, pancakes, and there’ll be coffee ready to go with it by the time your butts on a seat.”

Yang nodded, still yawning as she pulled a seat up at the breakfast bar. The table in the living room, a large and very solid oak table, was only used for special occasions and other than that it was never used except as somewhere to pile things. Ruby clambered over the sofa and jumped in one of the seats, her feet swinging underneath as they were just that _little_ bit too short to reach the foot bar. Their Dad turned around with a plate of food piled up in each hand, slid them across the bar and turned back to get the coffee.

“One strong black coffee with one sugar, and one coffee with cream and five sugars.” He placed the coffees next to the plates and then got his own food and sat opposite them.

Ruby tucked into the food straight away, drinking coffee to occasionally wash it down. Yang meanwhile started with the coffee, downing it in three large gulps, and then started eating the food afterwards. She slowly straightened up as she ate, becoming more lifelike and less like a zombie as each minute ticked by. When they’d finished, Ruby a few minutes ahead of Yang, they sat back drinking the refills their Dad had brought them. Now fully awake, Yang finished her coffee, ruffled Ruby’s hair despite the protests, thanked their Dad for breakfast and headed upstairs, a minute or two later they both heard the shower start. Ruby, still holding her coffee, climbed back onto the sofa and started watching She-Ra again. Patting the sofa beside her she called “Zwei! Here boy!” A small black and white corgi came trotting into the living room, tiny tail wagging so hard his butt moved with it. A quick running start provided the momentum for the dog to leap onto the sofa and curl up next to Ruby, who started absentmindedly scratching him behind the ears Just as the episode finished, she heard the shower turn off and Yang leave the bathroom. Twenty minutes later Ruby heard Yang come out her room, dressed in a flannel shirt and denim jeans. Grabbing a rucksack that was next to the floor, she swung it over her shoulder and looked to Ruby, “Coming sis?”

Ruby nodded, then switched Netflix and the TV off before grabbing her messenger bag from near the door and checked inside it again, making sure she had what she needed for the first day at the new school: Pen, notebook, water bottle. No books as they wouldn’t know what books they needed until they started the lessons. Grabbing her red hoody that hung on a peg by the door she put it on and then slid her feet into her boots, sat down to lace them up, and stood up next to Yang, who had slipped her feet straight into her shoes without undoing the laces. They both turned to say bye to their Dad who was standing opposite the small hallway, his scroll in his hands grinning expectantly, Zwei sat by his feet.

“Really? Come on Dad, we’re teenagers,” Yang rolled her eyes. Even Ruby agreed with the protest. As much as she loved her Dad, she was 14, 15 in the next couple of months!

“Teenagers you may be, but you’re still my daughters, so first day of school means a first day of school photo!” Their Dad looked at them meaningfully until they both sighed and acquiesced, Yang throwing her arm around Ruby’s shoulders and squeezing her tight, whilst Ruby grinned and threw up a couple of peace signs. After taking a couple of pictures their Dad smiled softly and told them to hurry up or they’d be late.

“Nah, we’ve got plenty of time, Beacon High is only fifteen minutes away, not like Signal on the other side of town, now that we would have been late for!” Yang chuckled, waving bye as she headed out the door. Ruby double checked her keys were still in her pocket before giving her Dad a big hug, then sprinting out after Yang. Catching up to her sister they fell into step with one another. Despite Yang’s longer legs, Ruby’s natural speed helped her keep pace. They chatted as they walked, not talking about anything important, mostly avoiding the dreaded topic of school.

They couldn’t avoid it forever though, and they rounded the final corner and Beacon High came into sight. “Ready sis?” Yang ruffled Ruby’s hair who immediately started to slap at her sister’s hands.

“Yaaaaang stop it!”

Yang laughed before taking on a less jovial tone, “Seriously though, are you gonna be alright? Remember, any trouble, you just come straight to me. Don’t bother with the teachers, just come to me and I’ll handle it.”

Ruby nodded thinking back to Signal Academy where they’d been before. Whilst the bullying there hadn’t been constant, it had definitely existed. Ruby had only told the teachers once, and it had only made it worse, even their Dad had admitted that sometimes teachers only made things worse. Yang however had ambushed the ring leader Emerald after school one day, and whilst she’d been given detention for a week, Yang considered it worth it as she knew she’d sent a message loud and clear: mess with Ruby and you messed with her. And messing with Yang meant messing with one of the best boxers in the state. Not something anyone wanted to do lightly. After that, the only bullying had been snide comments, or leaving Ruby out of things. Fortunately, her best friend Penny never stopped hanging out with her, and was completely immune to any kind of insult, purely because she was such a happy person at heart. That and Yang and her friends being happy to have Ruby around most of the time meant she managed to get through Signal.

“I... I think I’ll be ok. It’s the first day of a new school, everyone is going to be nervous. It’ll be fine.” Ruby smiled weakly, knowing that whilst that was true, not everyone else had skipped over an entire year and was going to a school with people two years older than them. Ruby, however, was. And the thought terrified her.

Yang stopped and looked at her, “You’re gonna be fine Rubes. I promise, alright? You’re gonna be absolutely fine, and everything is gonna turn out great.” Yang beamed at Ruby, who couldn’t help but smile back at Yang’s infectious optimism. They continued walking to school, arriving just in time to see a tall, red haired girl climb off the bus that had stopped just ahead of them.

“Hel-loooo!” Yang called out, putting a hand to her mouth to increase the volume.

The red-haired girl turned at the sound and beamed, jogging over to Yang and Ruby. “Hello Yang, hello Ruby. It’s good to see you’re both nice and early today.”

Ruby smiled back, “Hi Pyrrha.” Pyrrha had been one of Yang’s closest friends for the last four years or so and had always treated Ruby like a little sister - in a good way - and Ruby genuinely viewed Pyrrha as another older sister, something they both knew. Walking together the three of them headed closer to the school discussing the last week or so, as Pyrrha had been in Mistral visiting her cousins, and whilst her and Yang did message each other, it was still good to catch up in person. Heading inside, they saw signs indicating first years were to head for an assembly first thing. A tall, blonde woman, her hair mostly pulled back in a bun and with small oval glasses that she seemed to be permanently staring over, directed them to follow the signs to the auditorium, which they did. When they got to the auditorium it already had quite a few students in there, and there was another student looking quite bored behind a table. She checked people’s names against a list then handed them a small pack of paper and directed them to a specific seat in the hall.

Ruby and Yang were separated from Pyrrha, who headed further up whilst they stayed in the bottom few rows, before they were slightly separated again, though only by a few empty seats this time. Sitting down, they opened the packs and started having a quick read through, curiosity getting the better of them both. The packs were very simple: a map of the school (a large horseshoe shape) showing the ground floor and first floor, with a single room highlighted on the ground floor, over to the right-hand side of the map. There was a key on a key ring, clearly meant for a locker, and the other bit of information in the pack was the student handbook, something Ruby flicked through, whilst Yang immediately shoved it into her bag, preferring to study the map intently. She called over to Ruby, “Which room is highlighted on yours?”

Ruby hastily pulled her nap out and glanced over it, searching for the highlighted room. “Errrr...A4!”

“Yes! Same here!” Yang grinned, “Think that means we’ll share home room together?”

Ruby’s face lit up, “Hopefully, yeah!”

Ruby looked over the map again, trying to work out where various rooms were, trying to prevent herself from getting lost in the future. The sports hall took up a fairly large section of one side of the school, with the gym and changing rooms attached to it leading out to the pitches and track in the middle of the space. On the other side of the grassy area was the cafeteria, not as large as the sports hall opposite but still a decent size. Then a corridor with some classrooms between it and the library in the corner, the auditorium in the opposite corner nearer to the gym, and the rest of the building was made up of classrooms. The gym, sports hall, cafeteria, auditorium, and library took up space on both floors, but other than that it was classrooms.

By the time Ruby had finished looking over the map the auditorium had been filled out to about half. A loud sound, clearly coming from someone tapping on a microphone, sounded out across the room, and everyone’s eyes turned to face the stage. Seated at the back were five people, three men and two women, and a tall man in a dark green suit stood at the front, glasses on the end of his nose and thick grey hair that stood up everywhere. He had a cane in one hand and had placed the other in his pocket as he waited a moment for everyone to look at him.

“My name is Professor Ozpin, and I am both the headmaster of this school and chair of Beacon University. You are all here because you passed either the rigorous entrance exam or got in through sporting talent alone. You will spend the next two years with us honing and enhancing your skills in whatever it is that allowed you entrance into this prestigious school. At the end of that time, the vast majority of you will continue onto the university here in Beacon. Be warned however, that you will not be allowed to take it easy purely because you made it through the doors here, and it does not guarantee you access through their doors.” Ending his speech, he turned and left the stage, walking with a very slight limp in his right leg. Ruby looked at Yang out the corner of her eyes and they shared the same thought. That was... _interesting_. From the low buzz of noise in the room it was not a view exclusive to the sisters.

The strict-looking blonde woman who had directed them to the auditorium came up to the microphone and started talking immediately. “You are all currently sat in specific groupings. Rows I and J follow Professor Peach to your new home room.” There was a smattering of seats flicking back up as two rows of students stood up and followed the thin, but kindly looking, brunette out the doors. Rows G and H followed a tall grinning man by the name of Professor Mulberry out, E and F followed Professor Port, a rotund man with a large grey moustache, and Yang noticed Pyrrha and two of their other friends, Nora and Ren, following him out. C and D followed a gangly man with large glasses and green hair that could only be described as a bird’s nest. “And the final two rows, A and B for those who struggle with the alphabet, will follow me.” The blonde woman immediately marched down the steps of the stage and headed towards the doors, not giving much time for those to follow her.

Ruby grabbed her bag and hurried after her, making sure to stick close to Yang as they moved through the corridors towards the entrance of the school, passing by it and the staircase to the upper floor. Halfway towards the library she pushed open a door and walked into the classroom beyond, the train of students behind her following. “Your name is on the desk where you will be sitting. Do not try and move it elsewhere.” She repeated this as more students came into the room and everyone tried to figure out where they were sitting. Yang sat in the back corner, Ruby in the of the middle of the row in front of her. The rest of the students finished sitting, with a couple chatting to their neighbours, Yang included. Ruby was quiet and looked around, hoping to spot a familiar face, but the only face she saw that was recognisable was Yang’s. 

Whilst looking around, she spotted the girl to her right and she felt her breath catch in her throat. Platinum white hair tied back into a ponytail that was off centre cascaded down her back, a comfy looking white turtleneck sweater, clearly expensive, covered her neck and upper body, hugging quite close to her arms and torso, but with a little slack around the neck. Ruby could only see part of her face as she was staring directly ahead, her back perfectly straight and her hands clasped together on the table. But what a face it was, it was as smooth as a doll, her fringe stopped just above her eyes, which were a cool, icy blue. Her left eye had a strange slash across the skin, extending downwards as well as upwards, cutting through her eyebrow, that was also platinum white. Either the girl dyed every bit of hair that was visible, or, like Ruby, she had a strange hair colour naturally. Either way, Ruby didn’t think she’d seen a more beautiful person in her life.

Sensing someone looking at her, the girl turned her head slightly to look at Ruby, showing that the slash was only on one side, and whilst it was slightly pale, even against her already pale porcelain skin, it still stood out enough to be clearly visible. She narrowed her eyes slightly, then snapped her head back to the front, giving no more attention to Ruby beside her.

Following that reaction there was no way Ruby had any plans to say hello, so continued to look around for a minute or two before a loud smack at the front of the class caught everyone’s attention. The teacher was standing at the front, a riding crop in her hand that was still held against the board, below the words “Professor Goodwitch” written in cursive. Where she got the riding crop and why she was allowed to have it in school were two of the questions that popped into Ruby’s head briefly before Professor Goodwitch started talking.

“As you can clearly see, I am Professor Goodwitch, and will be your home room teacher for the next two years. I’m now going to pass out your timetables for this year, and they are unique to you, so hopefully nobody will get confused as you all sat exactly where you were supposed to.” A small smile crossed her face, one that Ruby didn’t think was there to make people feel at ease. 

Professor Goodwitch went round handing the timetables out to everyone and Ruby took hers with a quiet “Thank you.”

Back at the front of the class, timetables handed out, Professor Goodwitch informed everyone that “Now would be a good time to use the maps provided and make notes on where each of your classes will be held.” So, most people set about doing just that. Ruby pulled out her pen and started circling classrooms, writing down in the gaps what each room was for. “Your lockers are all located opposite this classroom, so you can have five minutes at the end to find out where your locker is.” Once Ruby had finished marking down where all of her classes were, she started looking at the timetable and seeing whether there were any days she wasn’t going to enjoy much.

Turns out today was one of those. After home room was double Spanish, Biology, lunch, then double English to end. Not exactly her favourite subjects. Monday’s looked a lot better though, Maths, Physics, Physical Education, Lunch, and then double Workshop to finish. Pretty much her perfect day. The rest of the week was mostly balanced between good and bad, and there were only two days left in the week after today. Home room was over fairly quickly, and Ruby headed over to Yang, “What’ve you got today?”

Yang checked her timetable, “Err double Art, Biology, lunch, and then double English?”

Ruby grinned, well at least she had English with her sister so wouldn’t have to suffer it alone. Unfortunately, the art rooms were located upstairs, and the Spanish rooms further away on the other side of the school. So, they said their goodbyes and went their separate ways. Spanish was, _interesting_ , is probably the best word Ruby would use to describe it. There were two boys who got along very well, one of them highly excitable and the other trying to play off a lot cooler. The double period meant by the end of it, Ruby’s head was thoroughly scrambled, and she was thinking in a mix of English and Spanish that only served to confuse her even more. Heading to Biology she followed her map to the science labs upstairs, arriving a few minutes after Yang did. Yang had, unfortunately for Ruby, already got someone sitting next to her, so Ruby gave her sister evils as she walked past and sat at an empty table. Just before the bell rang a tall guy with blonde hair and a hoody scrambled into the seat next to her, nearly falling off in his hurry to sit down before the bell. Ruby bit back a snort of laughter as their teacher, the kindly looking brunette from the auditorium walked in wearing a white lab coat. What was her name again? Professor Plum? No that wasn’t it…Professor Pear? No…she’d get it in a minute.

“Hello everyone and welcome to Biology. I’m Professor Peach.”

That was it, Peach!

Professor Peach continued to introduce herself, saying that she was both a doctor and a professor, but she didn’t mind what people called her, provided it was polite, which got a quick chuckle from some of the students. She pulled a bag out from behind the desk and dropped a stack of books on each table in the front row, the loud thump that accompanied each stack indicating the professor was a lot stronger than she first appeared. From the front the books were passed backwards until everyone had a book. Whilst the books were being passed around, Ruby decided that if she was sat with someone, she should probably introduce herself. “Hi…I’m Ruby.” She was still a little nervous but managed to get her words out without stumbling over them.

“Hi,” The blonde next to her flicked his head back and attempted a smile that was supposed to be sultry…maybe? Ruby wasn’t sure as it just looked weird. “Name’s Jaune Arc. Short, sweet, rolls off the tongue. Ladies love it.”

Ruby just stared at him for a minute or so before finally saying the only thing she could think of, “Do they?”

“Huh?”

“Do…do the ladies love it?” Ruby was feeling preeeeetty awkward now and regretting some life choices. Mostly getting to Biology later than Yang, and also trying to say hi to the blonde noodle next to her.

“Erm. Well. From your reaction and everyone else’s so far today I’d say no.” His shoulders dropped considerably and seemed really dejected, “Sorry. My mum always said people love confidence, but that’s clearly not right.”

Ruby’s feelings went from second-hand embarrassment to pity pretty quickly. Trying to find something to make him feel a bit better she came up with, “Well they do sometimes?” Which might not have been the best thing to say in hindsight, but too late now.

Jaune sighed. “Can we start over please? Preferably one where I don’t look like an idiot?”

Yang leaned over and whispered “Kinda failed on that one when you nearly fell over your own feet lady-killer.”

“Yang!” Ruby hissed at her, and Yang leaned back.

“Sorry.” She whispered.

Seeing all the books had finished being handed out, Professor Peach directed them to the front of the books and started the lesson. She wrapped class up a minute or two before the bell for lunch, the majority of the class having been spent reading or making notes. During the note taking, Jaune had managed to reintroduce himself to Ruby, this time without being overconfident, and she guessed he was probably nice enough, he definitely seemed pretty awkward at times, which was something Ruby could relate to.

Ruby and Yang left biology at the same time, Yang waiting for Ruby by the door, and they headed for lunch together. Ruby was still annoyed at Yang for not sitting with her in Biology and was grumbling about it until they sat down, and Yang passed her cookie over. “It’s a peace offering, ok?”

Ruby narrowed her eyes and accepted it, “Fine, but don’t skip out on me with English! You know I’ll need your help to get through it...” She mumbled the last part, but Yang smiled and nodded, having heard her all the same.

“Hello again!” Pyrrha walked over to their table and sat down, a ginger ball of excitement and energy behind her, and a calm and silent black-haired guy coming round to sit next to Yang.

“Hey Nora, hey Ren.” Yang and Ruby said hellos to two of their other friends from Signal. Nora was just pure energy, constantly excited and hyperactive. Whilst she didn’t have the best brain for academics in the world, she had made it into the school through one of the sport programmes for athletics. Her biceps and “thunder thighs” as she termed them gave a hint to her preferred sport, the hammer throw. Ren on the other hand was her closest and oldest friend, and pretty much the exact opposite of Nora in nearly every way. Where she was excited and hyperactive, he was calm and collected, taking pretty much everything in his stride. He also had the academics side of their pairing down too, and it had been no surprise to anyone when he’d followed Nora to Beacon through the more traditional entrance exam route. Making it better for them was not only getting to be in the same home room, but also having Pyrrha there as well! Ruby was pretty jealous there, she only had Yang and whilst she didn’t fault her older sister for much, she was definitely the more outgoing of the two.

All too soon the bell sounded, and lunch was over. Everyone clattered tomorrow their feet, climbing off the benches and putting their trays on the trolleys designed to hold them. Yang and Ruby headed towards their English class, Ren coming with them as it turned out he shared a class with the two sisters, whilst the others headed to their own classes. As it turned out the blonde noodle, Jean? Something like that Ruby thought too herself, was in their English class too, and seemed to be in the same home room as Ren as they both greeted each other and sat down together on the same table, Yang meanwhile stuck to her word and didn’t desert Ruby, sitting with her.

That turned out to be a good thing, as Ruby struggled pretty quickly with the level of work they were doing, as English hadn’t been her strongest subject back at Signal, and that was when it was her own year group level, never mind two years ahead...

By the time the double period ended Ruby’s brain was thoroughly scrambled. Again. She had no idea how she was going to make it through Wednesdays every week, what with double Spanish in the morning and double English in the afternoon, her brain didn’t get much of a chance to rest in Biology or lunch. Fortunately, this was by far her worst day, and she could probably just about handle it once a week. Today had mostly been alright, but she knew it would only get worse from next week. Ruby dropped her books off in her locker, having attached the key to her rather large collection of keychains already with various things either stuck on or hanging on. She was distracted as she headed down the steps and started to walk towards home, Yang having gone to boxing practice just to “meet everyone” apparently, no actual fighting, but Ruby hadn’t wanted to hang around to wait, preferring instead to head home straight away, she needed a bit of time to relax as she could feel her nerves twitching a little.

A loud thump as she walked into someone, knocking them both over, shook Ruby from her head. 

Oh fuck. 

Please be someone nice. Please be someone nice.

“I...I’m so sorry. It was an accident I...” Ruby started to apologise before being cut off.

“What the hell do you think you’re doing?! Do you not look where you walk?! You idiot! You dunce! You absolutely careless, clumsy...dolt!!” A very angry voice interrupted her, broke her hopes of it being a nice person, and then shattered them. The angelic beauty from home room, with the ice blue eyes and platinum white hair was standing over Ruby, who was still sitting on the floor. Those eyes, which whilst not exactly friendly beforehand but not strictly _unfriendly,_ were way past unfriendly and now bordered on anger and hatred. “Don’t you have anything to say for yourself?! How did you even get here? This school is only for the best, and you’re clearly not it, so why don’t you just go back to wherever you came from!” With that last insult she stormed off, ponytail swishing behind her.

Ruby meanwhile scrambled to her feet and, feeling what seemed to be the eyes of everyone in school boring into her, practically sprinted back home, went straight upstairs and sat down at her desk, hands trembling and her breath coming in very quick and shallow gasps. She closed her eyes and tried to drag up the memories of her coping strategies, and murmured out loud “In for seven, out for eleven. In for seven, out for eleven.” She deliberately breathed slowly, counting in her head in time to make sure the breaths were long and slow. After doing it four times, her hands had stopped shaking quite so badly, but her heart still felt like it was trying to burst out of her chest.

Breathing a little slower, but still more than normal, she reached over and turned her computer on. Then, on slightly shaky legs, walked over and picked a small box up with a highly designed and, in her view at least, cool mech on the top and put it on her desk to one side of the monitors. Lifting the lid up she took the trays of parts out and put them to one side, alongside the half-built torso. Opening a tab on her browser she found one of her favourite streamers for moments like this, a large guy with a beard and a deep calming voice. Loading one of his LEGO build streams she put her wireless headphones on, shutting the rest of the world out, settled down and threw herself into the build.

An hour and a half later Ruby pulled herself out of her build, paused the stream, and headed to get a drink. Her Dad still hadn’t returned from work, but Yang was downstairs, watching Netflix with Zwei curled up next to her. She turned as she heard Ruby’s soft footfalls on the stairs, got up, and wordlessly pulled Ruby into a hug. Ruby hugged her back, squeezing tight, knowing that Yang wouldn’t pry or ask questions, it only made her clam up and struggle to get back to normal. True to her thoughts, her sister just gently kissed the top of her head before going back to Netflix. Ruby grabbed some water, downed it in a single go, then poured herself some milk and grabbed the last couple of cookies and sat down on the other side of Zwei, pulling her knees up. They watched Netflix together, Ruby not really paying attention to anything, just scratching Zwei’s back with the cookies balanced on her knee.

Before too long their Dad turned up, a Chinese takeaway in hand. Ruby and Yang scrambled to get to the food as their Dad laughed and held it aloft with cries of “At least let me put it down before mobbing me to death!” They got plates and shared the food out, eating it and talking about nothing in particular. Her Dad hadn’t asked how the day had gone, so Yang had clearly messaged him in advance, and Ruby appreciated it. She’d talk to them both about it tomorrow, but tonight? Tonight, she wanted to relax and feel good.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So yes, I’ve given Ruby some anxiety and a little history of panic attacks. It will crop up later on in the story as well, but I felt like it would fit in with her. This is mostly going to be told from Ruby’s perspective along with a little bit from the other three girls. Don’t worry, Blake will come into it a little bit in the next few chapters, and then much more in the fifth chapter. There’s not a release schedule like with my other fanfic Road to Graduation (which is weekly on a Saturday and set in the actual RWBYverse). This is very much a “I’ll release the next chapter once I’ve finished it” sort of thing, so it could be quickly, it could be a while, depends on how quickly I write. Anyway, thank you very much to anyone who reads this!!


	2. September Part 1, Year 1

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> September begins, and Ruby discovers she shares more classes than just home room with the platinum-haired antagonist that gave her a panic attack

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So it's been a while since the first chapter uploaded (sorry!). I've changed my mind slightly about the chapter sizes, mostly because I've only written half of September and it's already over five and a half thousand words...so rather than drop a massive 12,000 or so word chapter a month later, I'm probably going to write until I'm about halfway through the month and check the word count. If it's 5k plus, then I'll upload it, otherwise I'll save it until the chapter is finished.
> 
> Either way, it's now September, and the story continues!

The first day of September was the second day of school. Ruby woke up with a slight feeling of dread, but it wasn’t as bad as yesterday. Provided she managed to avoid the platinum-haired girl, then she’d be fine. Her Spanish, Biology, and English classes, whilst not exactly fun, were at least held with people she, if not straight up liked, could tolerate. Home room she could just ignore her, as Professor Goodwitch didn’t seem like the type to do lots of paired activities or any ice breakers, and hopefully she wouldn’t disturb the class by being rude or nasty, and although PE was with her home room class as well, it was just PE, and she could mostly stick with Yang for that. Either way, she was looking forward to the end of the next two days, she’d checked her timetable the night before and saw it was double Art straight after lunch to finish today off. Ruby knew she wasn’t the best at it, but fortunately Art had never been a graded subject that actually made a difference at Signal (that was reserved for the more serious subjects like Maths, English and the sciences), so Ruby didn’t have to worry about the grades, she could just lose herself in it and draw whatever she felt like, so she hoped it would be similar at Beacon. Double Maths to end a Friday might have seemed like some people’s idea of hell, Ruby knew it was for Yang, but for her it was brilliant. She’d always found herself able to do Maths without much issue, regardless of how difficult it was, and that helped with her Physics too, something that contained a lot more Maths than people ever seemed to realise. Everyone thought it was lightsabers and teleportation, but even that was mostly maths in some way.

Rolling out of bed at the second alarm, she stretched as she got up and nipped into the bathroom quickly. She’d worked out at the start of her time at Signal that if she set her alarm early enough, she had twenty minutes before Yang woke up and decided to kick her out. It might mean she got a little bit less sleep, but for uninterrupted time in the bathroom, not worrying if the hot water will run out any second as Yang used nearly every drop of it, it was worth it. After getting dressed she grabbed some cereal and ate it, before getting ready for school and playing a game on her phone whilst waiting for Yang to get ready. They’d agreed ages ago, back when they’d first started Signal, that until Ruby requested any different, they’d walk to school together every day, and Ruby had no plan to request a change any time soon.

Before too long, Yang was ready and grabbed a slice of toast before they headed to school together, arriving in home room with a couple of minutes to spare. Ruby slowed down slightly as they walked in, the platinum-haired girl ( _I really need to learn what her name is rather than just call her platinum-hair girl_ Ruby thought to herself) was sitting down already, back straight, staring straight ahead. As with the day before, she didn’t spare Ruby more than a single cursory glance before staring straight ahead. Once Ruby was sure she couldn’t be seen she let out a breath she’d been holding. It seemed the girl was just going to ignore her completely, or at least not start shouting and insulting her again, and if it stayed like that, she’d be good.

Unlike the day before, Professor Goodwitch went through the register, calling names out. “Ruby Rose?”

“Yes.”

“Weiss Schnee?”

“Present.”

_Ok, so her name is Weiss? Well at least I know what to call her now...it’s a pretty name, suits her looks, but not her personality._

Home room continued, Professor Goodwitch giving them some information, Ruby listened but none of it was actually useful for her, it was mostly to do with clubs, something she wasn’t interested in. Before too long the bell rang and everyone began the steady shuffle to grab their bags and head for the first period, in Ruby’s case Biology. She sat next to Jaune again, and they took notes from the books again, listening to Professor Peach explain things with wildly drawn diagrams on the board that without her explanations made virtually no sense at all.

Ruby’s free was spent sat with Yang, Ruby cleaning her notes up so they readable and Yang playing on her phone.

History was interesting. It was with Weiss, but they sat in very different places so Ruby could easily avoid her. That wasn’t what made it interesting though. Their teacher was Dr Oobleck and he spoke at such speed that Ruby could barely understand a word. He also seemed to be able to teleport, because he went from one place to another with such speed it was unbelievable, Ruby knew it wasn’t just her because nearly everyone else was trying to follow him and she saw at least one other person, a blonde monkey Faunus she shared Spanish with, Sun? Something like that, look around madly as he tried to follow their teacher’s zipping movements. In Sun’s case however, after ten minutes of trying to follow he gave up, slamming his forehead into the desk with a heavy thud, the blue haired boy, Ruby thought his name was Poseidon? Something to do with the sea, patting him on the back comfortingly. Professor Oobleck either didn’t notice Sun’s reaction or just didn’t care. After fifteen minutes of furious writing Ruby looked at her notes and realised she’d been writing so quickly she couldn’t actually read a single word of it. She sighed, put her head in her hands and just tried to listen to Professor Oobleck.

The moment the bell ring Professor Oobleck shot to the front of the classroom, thanked them, told them the notes would be online by 6pm tonight along with the homework task, and then shot out the door, leaving them all quite stunned.

Ruby staggered into the cafeteria, got her lunch and sat down with Yang and Pyrrha. Noticing Ruby’s face Yang asked, “What’s up?”

“Have either of you had History yet?” 

“No, not yet. Why? Is the teacher a nightmare?” Yang groaned as she said it, already expecting the worst.

“Not exactly a nightmare. He just talks stupidly quick and can teleport.”

“Teleport?” Pyrrha sounded pretty sceptical at that bit.

Ruby waved her hand “Ok so maybe he doesn’t teleport, but nobody can see his legs move he’s that fast. That’s close enough to teleporting.” Yang and Pyrrha shared a look. A look that wasn’t subtle about their obvious disbelief. “Just wait until you have your first lesson with him, then you’ll understand.” Ruby had noticed the look.

Yang shrugged. “Alright Rubes, if you say so.”

They continued talking about the classes they’d had so far when the bell went. Having finished their food off, they all headed to their lessons, and Ruby walked to the art rooms with a little apprehension, but repeating the mantra in her head that it’s all going to be alright, and Art will still be fun.

She was right.

Ruby could barely contain her grin when she was told that although they would be graded for the subject, it wouldn’t have a detrimental effect on their overall final grades, and, if they got a high enough grade, it could actually help. Whilst Ruby didn’t fully understand how it worked, it meant she could enjoy doing her sketches and practice without worrying that if the teacher disagreed with her on her choices it wouldn’t affect her final grades.

She settled down at a desk and started to enjoy herself. By the time the day was over she’d managed to speak to one of Pyrrha’s friends Ren a little bit, and she discovered he wanted to be a graphic designer, but specialised in floral designs. She’d also briefly spoken to a Faunus girl called Ilia, who’d set up a little cove in the corner wearing a heavy-duty apron and a gas mask. She’d been using spray paint to make designs and sat near Ruby, who had the least messy workspace (which admittedly wasn’t saying much) as she waited for them to dry. Whilst she waited, she’d sketched out a couple of designs quickly and they’d spoken a little bit, but little more than pleasantries and information about their preferred art styles.

Yang didn’t have practice today so, being very careful to keep an eye out for anyone walking near her, Ruby waited for her sister in the main courtyard at the front of the school before they walked back home, talking about their last lessons. Getting back in together they dropped their school bags by the door, gave Zwei his dinner, then Yang took him for a walk whilst Ruby went upstairs and played some video games.

By the time Yang had got back from the walk, Tai had come back from work and got their dinner cooking. Yang grabbed her little sister and they sat around and ate dinner, and Ruby gave a very brief explanation of what had happened the day before, just saying that she’d bumped into someone and they had taken it _really_ badly. Like super badly. She didn’t want to go into much specifics about the panic attack the day before because she knew Yang would overreact and call Weiss out, and then things could get worse.

“So, what are you going to do about it?” Yang’s question caught her a bit off guard.

“Erm. Well...try to avoid them as much as possible?” Ruby’s answer was truthful, she was going to avoid Weiss as much as she could. Except they sat next to each other in home room. Oh, and shared a history class too. But Yang didn’t need to know that it was Weiss who had caused it, especially as she seemed satisfied with Ruby’s answer.

Sensing that Ruby wasn’t in the mood for elaborating, Yang started talking about the boxing club. “So, we’ve got the first proper boxing club session of the year on tomorrow. Yesterday was just meeting everyone but tomorrow’s going to be the real deal. Apparently, we also get unlimited access to the school gym too!”

“Wait there’s an actual gym at the school?” Tai’s gaze shifted from his youngest daughter to Yang, his voice tinged with surprise, “Like an actual free weights and machines gym?”

“Yep, it’s open from, something like six in the morning until six at night? Students in sports clubs get unlimited access but everyone else can have only one session a week in it.” Yang scratched her head as she tried to remember what she’d been told by the head of the boxing club. “So, I’m probably going to alternate with boxing club and gym after school and see how that goes.”

“Be careful not to overuse your muscles and factor in rest days too.” Tai said, pointing his fork at Yang.

“Yes Dad, I do know how to exercise.” Yang sounded exasperated.

“I know you do, but I’m your Dad, I’m meant to be overly cautious and remind you of things you already know.” Tai smirked and Yang just rolled her eyes.

They finished dinner and Ruby went up to check the school website to see if Oobleck had actually put his notes up there. She was pleasantly surprised to find they were there, in detail, with a detailed homework essay due for next Friday. Having a look at the topic she did a quick bit of basic research, did a rough plan, and then switched to playing a new online game she’d discovered recently.

The next day Ruby walked into home room, expecting Weiss to ignore her again, which, true to expectations, she did, and sat at her desk, waiting for Professor Goodwitch to start talking. This morning was nothing really important, to Ruby anyway, just the discussion of who would be class representatives to the school student council. “So, whilst some classes hold a vote, quite a lot of you don’t know each other well enough, so I’ll decide.” Professor Goodwitch looked around the room, thinking before making her decision, “Miss Schnee and Miss Belladonna, you can both be our class representatives.“ Weiss and a black-haired girl wearing an equally black bow both nodded. _It’s_ _pretty cute she wears a bow_ Ruby thought. “Here is some information about the roles and what is expected of you, in home room it’s very little, but outside of it you have to attend student council meetings, so there’s some information there too, including when the first one will be held.” Professor Goodwitch wrote their names on the front and handed a booklet to each of them, not long before the bell went signalling the start of the school day proper.

Ruby’s first lesson was History and she went back to the same seat as the day before, being one of the first in as it was down the hall from her home room. Weiss had come in just after her and sat near the front in the same seat as before. Ruby watched the other students come in, first there was the blonde Faunus, his tail flicking back and forth as he strolled in, uniform very loose and the shirt pretty much unbuttoned most of the way, revealing a t-shirt with a graphic on of some kind of band. Next to him was the blue-haired guy with a name to do with the sea, his uniform was immaculate, and from the way he was joking and laughing with the blonde they either clearly knew each other from before. The nice girl from Art called Ilia was just behind them, rolling her eyes at something they said and punched the blonde in the shoulder as they sat down. Ruby smiled at her and waved slightly, and was very pleased to see that Ilia noticed the wave, smiled back and nodded her head in response before sitting down next to the blonde who was sprawled in his seat. Okay, so there was definitely someone new who didn’t hate her at least. That made it sort of even? Weiss was a minus one, and Ilia was an even, if not a plus. The next person in was someone from her Biology, but Ruby wasn’t sure she wanted to get to know him as he seemed...well he seemed pretty angry most of the time. Ruby recognised a few other students but nobody she’d spoken to.

Professor Oobleck appeared at the front of the classroom the second the bell went, placed a thermos flask on the desk, took a long drink from his coffee, and then was off. Ruby didn’t even bother trying to take notes this time, just listened to him and, although she didn’t get the entire lesson, managed to hear a decent chunk of it. 

After that was Chemistry, and Ruby walked in to see a strange set up on the teachers desk at the front, with a plexiglass shield in front of a large tray of what looked like water with a bottle of washing up liquid next to it. Ruby could see a hose connected to the gas tap on the desk going next to the tray, so was very curious about what was going to happen. After taking that in, she turned to find name plates on each table indicating that this teacher was also fond of alphabetical order. Ruby groaned internally and didn’t even need to check the name plates to know where she was sitting. The icy gaze from Weiss was enough to let her know she was next to her again. 

Just to make certain Ruby double checked, she didn’t want to embarrass herself again, and before she read the name there was a tiny flame of hope in her stomach that there was someone else who had a last name after Rose, but before Schnee. There wasn’t and the tiny flame was extinguished. Sitting next to Weiss she pulled her notebook and pen out and put it on the desk.

She recognised Ilia and Jaune, who were sat next to each other near the front, when saw Pyrrha come in Ruby smiled widely and said hello as she sat in the row in front, and then Ren came and sat at the table next to Ruby and she said hi, and got a response back from the quiet guy.

After a minute or two their teacher bumbled in through the door. He was quite short, carried a little extra weight on him, but not enough to be called chubby, had no eyebrows, and was definitely going bald from the lack of fringe and receding hairline on top. He wore a lab coat that had a few suspicious looking burns on, as well as some wireframe glasses in a breast pocket, one arm poking out a hole in the bottom of it.

“Is everyone here?” He looked around and saw every place was filled, “Excellent! My name is Dr Ignis and I am your Chemistry teacher for the next two years.” He beamed at everyone and pulled his glasses out his pocket and put them on. “Whilst there are several people, my wife included, who think Chemistry should be a more...written and theoretical subject, I wholeheartedly disagree!” He smirked at them and Ruby got a feeling she might like him, “I am very practical orientated and believe strongly in experimentation! It’s quite one thing to just read about a chemical reaction and another thing entirely to witness it in action or even make it happen yourself!”

He moved behind the desk and squeezed a large amount of washing up liquid into the tray of water. “Gather round so you can all see please! Shortest people at the front, tallest at the back, feel free to sit on the tables on the front row, I’ve cleaned any acid that was left on them from the last lesson so it should be safe to sit without burning through any clothes.” He swilled the washing up liquid with his finger gently, spreading it around without actually creating any bubbles. Ruby found herself near the front, with Weiss nearby. _She’s only slightly taller than me_ Rubythought. Seemingly satisfied the liquids were mixed in enough, Dr Ignis put the hose into the tray and strapped a bit of duct tape on the side to hold it in the water. He turned the gas tap on, and bubbles immediately started forming on the top of the water.

He faced the board, grabbed a pen and started quickly drawing a diagram of the setup. “Now then, what we have in the tray is water. Simple H2O. It has been mixed in with washing up liquid, which contains various chemicals and additives, so I won’t bother writing what they all are, it’s mostly useless information anyway.” He turned back around and made a noise of approval at the amount of bubbles, which had created a large mound. He turned the gas tap off and asked “So, what gas did I just put into this mixture?”

Everyone was silent for a moment before Weiss put her hand up. Dr Ignis held a hand out in obvious approval for her to speak, “Methane.”

“Excellent! Yes, it is methane. What is the chemical formula for methane? Anyone can answer, don’t hold your hand up, just shout it out.”

“CH4.” Weiss was again the first person to speak up. 

“Excellent! Yes, CH4 is the formula as it is one atom of carbon and four of hydrogen.” He turned and wrote CH4 on the board next to the hose in his diagram. He turned back around and picked up a long black stick and put it on the edge of the tray near the bubbles. “Now, does anyone know what happens if you set fire to methane?”

The class was silent until Pyrrha spoke up, very warily as if she wasn’t sure why he was asking, “It burns?”

“Exactly.” He grinned and flicked the bottom of the stick and a ginormous flame roared from the tray to the ceiling for a moment before it and all the bubbles were gone.

“Holy shit!” Jaune exclaimed and fell backwards off his stool to get away from the fire. Nearly everyone had a similar reaction, although not as extreme as his. Most people took a step backwards if they could, but Jaune had been the only one to swear out loud, and also the only one who hadn’t thought that if he leant back far enough to get away from the fire he’d fall over.

Dr Ignis chuckled as Pyrrha gave him a hand up. “Not quite holy Mr Arc, hellfire is probably a closer curse, but it’s not often used nowadays. I appreciate the sentiment though.” Turning back to the board he drew a flame next to the methane and then a much larger one above it. He poured more washing up liquid into the water and then added methane again. “Does anyone know what happened there?” Everyone shook their heads. “The methane added to the mixture combined with the washing up liquid to create bubbles, much like it would if you turned a normal water tap on. However, rather than air filling the bubbles, it was the methane. The shell of the bubble itself is incredibly thin and highly delicate, so too much heat will break it and release the methane. Fire will immediately spread between the bubbles at a high rate of speed, and then burn up just as quickly due to lack of fuel.”

This time he swept bubbles up into his hand. “Because methane is lighter than air, the bubbles start to rise ever so slightly off my hand. Which is why I can do this.” He flicked the lighter on again and a plume of fire shot up from his hand. The class were shocked. Even though everyone had seen him scoop the bubbles up, nobody thought he’d set it on fire when he was still holding them! Dr Ignis held his hand up to show his palm. “No damage, in fact I barely even felt it. Now back to your desks, unfortunately I can only do the experiment a couple of times, as whilst the fire alarms in this room have been disabled, I have to be careful as the fire usually reaches the ceiling, and too much will either break the tiles or set it alight. Which is not an experience I wish to have for a second time.” 

Everyone headed back to their desks, and Ruby’s one thought was that this guy was absolutely _insane_. She was fairly certain she was going to really enjoy Chemistry. Then she remembered who she was sat next to and lab partners with. _Maybe not_. The rest of the lesson was spent making notes and diagrams on the experiment and how it worked. Weiss ignored Ruby for pretty much the entire lesson, the only sound Ruby got out of her was when Dr Ignis announced at the end that the majority of the lessons will involve some form of practical, usually done in pairs with their lab partner. Unfortunately for Ruby the sound Weiss made was clearly one of annoyance, and Weiss bustled out the classroom first chance she got when the bell went. _Oh well_ , Ruby thought, _If she ignores me, I can live with that. Just so long as she doesn’t yell at me again._

Rubyspent her free period having a look around the library, she figured it would be somewhere she’d have to spend at least _some_ time in, so best to get a rough layout now. The library was quite large and took up two floors. The bottom floor was entirely filled with books, then the upper floor was split between various private meeting rooms that could be booked out, tables for working on, a couple of banks of computers, and then more books. She managed to find a small section of graphic novel collections and nearly squealed in delight as she hadn’t read the vast majority of them. Ruby immediately checked three out and sat at a table to start reading one. By the time the bell went she was over halfway through it and put them in her bag before heading downstairs and to the cafeteria.

As normal, lunch was spent with Pyrrha and Yang, with Jaune, Nora, and Ren joining them again, and Ruby and Pyrrha discussed Dr Ignis with the others, with additional input from Ren and Jaune every now and then, but Jaune’s input was mostly restricted to how insane the teacher was. Nora was enraptured with him, and Ruby was remembering that Nora was a very chaotic girl with little restrictions, except when it came to Ren, her boyfriend-but-not-boyfriend. Ren was the only person who could calm her down and convince her not to do things. Generally, as everyone had had one lesson with him so far, the whole table agreed that he was absolutely insane.

Ruby was beaming as lunch went on and Yang sighed, “I don’t understand how you’re so happy that you have double Maths as the last two lessons on a Friday. Maths. On a Friday afternoon!” Jaune also looked at Ruby like she was insane.

Ruby just tapped her first fingers together nervously, “I just find it easy you know? Like there’s never been anything that I struggle with when it comes to Maths, so it’s a nice easy lesson to have right before the weekend.” 

Yang shook her head, “I still don’t understand it, but you do you little sis.”

Ruby shrugged and then looked up at a commotion a few tables away. The angry ginger from her Biology and History had grabbed the ears of a rabbit Faunus and was pulling them laughing with some of his friends. “What the hell?” Yang muttered, “You just don’t do that to a Faunus...” The others on their table agreed and Yang, Pyrrha and Nora started to move to intervene, and from the looks of it a few others were as well. The trio from Ruby’s History including the two Faunus were moving that way, looks of rage on their face, and there was also the black-haired girl from their home room with them too, Belladonna? Ruby didn’t know her first name, but all four of them looked ready to kill.

“The fuck is your problem dickwad?” Nobody had noticed a girl in an auburn sweater, with aviator shades, fingerless gloves, black jeans, and fairly dangerous looking stiletto heeled boots walk up behind him. He turned around in time for her to swing a metal studded handbag into his crotch. Pretty much the whole cafeteria had seen something going on by now and they all reacted as one, making an audible gasp as he dropped to his knees, his face going white. The girl wasn’t finished though and kicked his chest with her boot knocking him onto his back. His friends stopped laughing and just stood there stunned as she slammed her heel into his chest, leant over him and said, very audibly, “You even think about pulling her ears again and I’ll put my heel through your testicles so hard the tiny fuckers will pop like grapes. You got that?” He didn’t respond but she turned to the Faunus girl, looped an arm through hers and practically pulled her over to her table, “I like your fashion style, let’s talk.” The group who had been ready to kill the guy rushed over to the rabbit Faunus and they all sat down at the table with the new girl and her other friends, clearly fussing and worried about their friend.

“Well, she’s my hero.” They turned to look at Jaune. “What? Cardin’s a dick and bullied me for half of my school life, and nobody has _ever_ put him in his place like that!”

Yang grinned, “Can’t argue there, she ruined him. He’s gonna walk with a limp for a week.”

Pyrrha agreed, “And it’s what he deserves. Vile person.”

Their whole table agreed on how much of a dick Cardin was and they moved on when the bell went.

Ruby walked into the classroom and Weiss’ icy glare met her eyes, before looking at the seat next to her then back at Ruby. Guess this was yet _another_ teacher who wanted everyone sat in alphabetical order. Why couldn’t she just sit next to Pyrrha? 

When Professor Goodwitch walked in Ruby was slightly surprised, _Huh, guess the home room classes don’t all match with the teacher’s normal rooms._ Just as the second bell rang, the black-haired girl with the bow slipped in. Professor Goodwitch raised an eyebrow at her near lateness and a soft, quiet voice replied to the unspoken question “Apologies Professor Goodwitch, my friend was being bullied in the cafeteria and I was making sure she was okay.”

Professor Goodwitch’s glare softened, “I am aware of what happened to Miss Scarletina, as well as what Miss Adel did to Mr Winchester in response. I’ll allow your tardiness this time due to the circumstances.” She turned her gaze to the rest of the room, as the bow girl slipped into her seat at the front, and then spoke with her normal tone. “I expect you all have either seen or heard about what happened during the lunch break. If you haven’t, I will not explain as I have no doubt you will find out within the week from other students. Whilst I do not condone Miss Adel’s...more physical approach to dealing with the racist bullying of Mr Winchester, I want to make it plain that _any_ form of bullying will not be tolerated. Especially racist bullying of any kind.”

After that the Maths lesson began and Ruby didn’t breeze through it as she thought she would. She didn’t struggle exactly, but it wasn’t as easy as it had been for the last few years, and Ruby enjoyed the challenge.

Then, just to top the day off with yet another event, Weiss Schnee was waiting for her as Ruby exited the classroom. “We need to talk.” Weiss started to walk to one side, but Ruby stopped there for a moment, slightly confused. Was she talking to her? “Well? Come on.” Realising that Weiss did indeed mean to talk to her, she caught up to Weiss as she headed to one side of the school, in the opposite direction to everyone headed for the doors and the exit. Once Weiss had determined they’d gone far enough, walking in silence the whole way, she stopped and turned around, and Ruby had to stop suddenly to make sure she didn’t walk into Weiss. Again.

“I have been told, by someone I trust and who’s opinion I value, that I was...overly harsh to you on Wednesday afternoon and that I overreacted.”

Ruby was even more confused now.

“If we have to sit next to each other in several classes, as well as work as lab partners in Chemistry, then it would be best if we didn’t actively hate one another. Do you understand?” Weiss’ tone wasn’t actively angry, but it was a little harsh and sharp.

“Err...yes?”

“Good.” Weiss started to go but after a few feet she turned back around and said, “But by no means does make us friends!” 

_Was that meant to be an apology? But she didn’t say sorry_...Ruby was still confused about the whole situation, _Well at least she doesn’t hate me? I think?_ She shook her head and walked home, Zwei bouncing up to her happily when she walked in the doorway. Dropping her bag in the hall she swapped her combat boots for a pair of red and black trainers, grabbed his lead and took him for a walk. Yang was at boxing and their Dad had said he’d be back late, so it was down to Ruby to walk Zwei. When she got back, she gave him his dinner which he wolfed down pretty quickly, then drank half his water bowl in one go. Having finished he trotted to his bed and flopped into it, his soft snores indicating he’d fallen asleep pretty quickly.

Yang came back in not long after and they got some dinner, Yang cooking up a grilled cheese sandwich for them each whilst they sat on the sofa watching Netflix together.

“Hey girls, if you hear banging or noises don’t worry about it. Also, you’re both banned from the garage until I say so tomorrow okay? Seriously, do _NOT_ go in there alright?” Tai’s head stuck round the front door, waited for them to agree, then vanished again.

Yang turned to Ruby, “Okay now I’m really curious. Think it’s something to do with a major event tomorrow?” She waggled her eyebrows. It was her 17th birthday, and she was pretty happy about it, even though she was just keeping it pretty small and going for a meal out with Ruby and their Dad in the evening. 

“Probably” Ruby replied shrugging. “Dad hasn’t let me in on what he’s got you this year, clearly hasn’t forgiven me for spilling what he got you last year.” They both laughed at the memory. Tai had told Ruby what he’d got Yang for her birthday and Ruby had spilled it by accident within a week. Despite Tai’s warning they didn’t hear any crashes or bangs, just the garage door going up, then ten minutes later it went down again. Tai came back in and put a ready meal in the microwave for himself, then sat on the sofa with it, in-between the girls. 

“So, what shall we watch?” Friday was usually some form of movie or tv box set night, and they took it in turns to decide what they’d watch, and tonight was Yang’s turn.

“Hmmm well it’s a tossup between the latest Marvel movie or the classic Calamity Jane from 1953...and I think we’ll go with Calamity Jane!” Selecting a DVD from the cabinet below the TV, Yang put it in the DVD player and started it playing. Ruby never understood where Yang’s love for old school musicals came from, it certainly wasn’t her or their Dad! Hopefully this one would at least be better than South Pacific, which even Yang admitted was awful.

Okay so Calamity Jane wasn’t _too_ bad, and it was Ruby’s turn next time, so Attack of the Turkey Slashers 4 it would be! 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm not going to lie I loved writing Dr Ignis, he's absolutely insane. Writing Coco kicking Cardin's ass was also great fun.
> 
> As always, thank you so much to anyone who leaves a comment, gives kudos, subscribes, bookmarks, or even just reads it and enjoys it.


	3. September Part 2, Year 1

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Yang gets a gift for her birthday that she's always wanted, and Ruby's home room has PE.

The next day Ruby rolled out of bed, and headed downstairs still in her tank top and pyjama bottoms rubbing her eyes. Her dad slid some toast and coffee over that Ruby gratefully accepted. “I’m still...yawn...surprised that Yang didn’t take the day off today.”

Tai laughed, “So am I! But apparently she wants to save her holidays up for something special so...” and he shrugged as he finished talking. Yang worked at a local coffee shop on a Saturday morning, doing the early shift of 6am to 2pm, and despite her struggles with getting up for school, she’d never had much of an issue getting up for work. As Yang would be missing for most of the day, Ruby decided to use the morning as a bit of a lazy one, she finished her breakfast and went back to bed, lying there playing a random game on her phone she’d found on the App Store for a while, before swapping to her computer and Warriors of Earth, a fantasy MMORPG she’d found recently. After a while Tai stuck his head round the door and caught Ruby’s attention. Logging off, she grabbed a box from under her bed and took it downstairs, setting it on the end of the table that Tai had ‘cleared’ earlier. His ‘clearing’ (little more than shoving stuff out the way and making bigger piles further down the table) left enough space for a yellow cake with multiple candles, an envelope marked ‘read me first’, a small box, and finally just enough space for Ruby’s box.

Hearing the rumble of the truck on the driveway Tai immediately sprinted to the kitchen, grabbed a lighter, then lit the candles. Meanwhile Ruby dashed over and switched all the lights off. Whilst the still drawn curtains didn’t block all the light out, they did still block a decent amount. When Yang unlocked and opened the doors, it was easy to see the candles flickering with Ruby on one side of the cake and Tai on the other, both of them singing “Happy Birthday to you!” although neither of them were anywhere near a tune. Yang laughed as she walked further in, and as Ruby and Tai reached the end of the last line, they drew the final ‘yooooooouuuuuu’ out so long that Zwei decided to join in and howl along with it, making Yang laugh even more.

She raised her hands in acceptance of the song, then bent down and blew the candles out on her cake. Ruby gave her a massive hug whilst Tai turned the lights on. 

“What did you wish for?”

“Come on Rubes, you know I can’t tell you that! If I say it, then it won’t come true!” Yang winked at her younger sister and grinned.

Ruby shrugged, “Worth a try.”

Yang grinned and held the envelope up that said ‘Read me first’ and looked at her dad, “I guess I’d be staring the obvious to say I should open this one first right?” She laughed as she said it and started to open the envelope.

“Actually, no.” Yang looked shocked. “You need to open Ruby’s present first, and then the envelope.” Tai pointed at Ruby’s box as Yang put the envelope down, half open. She ripped Ruby‘a wrapping apart, then lifted the box lid off. Looking inside she pulled out a fully yellow boxing glove, with a black Chinese dragon embroidered around the wrist. 

“Ruby these are gorgeous! How did you know?” Yang smiled and grabbed her little sister in a giant bear hug spinning her round. She pulled them both on and threw a few quick jabs at thin air testing the feel. They were light and nicely padded, it almost felt like they had been specially made just for her. The black dragon wrapped around her wrist with the tail curled underneath it’s head and the head reaching to the main part, a yellow eye staring out. Ruby smiled, she’d known Yang’s normal gloves were starting to read h the end of their life, and had saved up (and borrowed a bit from her future allowance) so she could get them specially made and embroidered. “I am definitely using these as my fighting gloves from now on.”

Yang slipped the gloves off and picked the envelope up, looking at Tai for confirmation. He nodded and she ripped the rest of it open, pulling a small folded card out, flipping it open her eyes scanned the writing before exclaiming “No fucking way. Seriously?” She turned to her Dad who was just smirking.

“Yep.” He popped the p at the end as Ruby leaned over to look at Yang’s gift. ‘Two day motorcycle licence weekend. Get your full motorcycle licence in just one weekend of training.’ Ruby looked at the smaller box on the table, her brain clicking into an idea at about the same time as Tai grinned, motioning Yang to the other box. She picked it up slowly, and unwrapped it just as slowly. It was a small velvet box that she opened, revealing two keys. “You can go in the garage now if you like.”

“If this is a prank, I’m going to beat you to death with my new gloves.” Yang sprinted outside to the garage door, Ruby not far behind her, and Tai taking a more leisurely stroll. She threw the garage door up and walked in. Ruby arrived just as Yang ripped a tarpaulin to the ground, falling to her knees afterwards when she saw what was underneath. “I’ve died and gone to heaven.”

“One Kawasaki Ninja ZX6R. In yellow and black.” Tai had come round the corner and was leaning against the wall. Yang looked back at him with tears in her eyes. “It was originally supposed to be for your 18th, but I found someone selling one nearby, as he had to move countries for work and couldn’t take it with him. It was in your colours and a decent price so I couldn’t ignore it. I’m giving it to you now, because I can’t be bothered to pay somewhere to store it for a year.”

Yang was just speechless for a moment before getting to her feet and just hugging both of them. “Neither of you are allowed to buy me anything for Christmas or my next birthday. Got that?” Tai laughed and hugged her back, whilst Ruby just hugged her.

“Hello!” A cheery voice rang out and the three looked to the road to find Pyrrha standing there, dressed in exercise gear, with a package under her arm.

“Pyrrha!” Yang called out in happiness. “Come check it out! I’ve had the best birthday ever so far!” Pyrrha smiled and walked up, saying hello to Ruby and Tai. “Ta-da!”

“Oh my goodness is that a motorcycle?” Pyrrha was understandably shocked.

“Yeah! Dad got me it, and, that’s not all! Wait here!” She ran inside the house before coming out, hands gloved up, and she smacked her fists into one another. “Ruby got me these personalised gloves too!” Ruby felt a massive weight lift off her shoulders she hadn’t realised was there. Yang hadn’t ignored and forgotten her present as soon as the bike appeared. Not that Ruby would have blamed her, Yang had wanted a bike since she knew what one was, but she was still excited and showing her boxing gloves off to Pyrrha, who made approving noises.

“I remembered you had said you were running short of various supplies, so I got you a care package.” Yang took the gloves off and opened Pyrrha’s present to reveal a selection of wrist tape, Vaseline, mouth guard, and other boxing supplies to help before and after a fight. A stereotypical gift from the caring redhead, always looking to try and help others, and definitely appreciated. Pyrrha stopped to chat for a little bit before waving bye and continuing on her run. 

They all headed back inside and Yang went upstairs and grabbed her laptop, checking for dates for her motorcycle lesson weekend and found a couple. Calling her work, she tried to cajole a free weekend that matched one of the training weekends by using some holiday, as well as guilting her manager into it by saying “It’s my birthday and I still came to work today, come on...please?” She waited for the answer, the nervous anticipation clear on her face, before jumping for joy. “Yes! Thank you so much, you have no idea how much this means to me!” Ruby just smiled at her sister, happy for her. Yang’s joy was too infectious not to be, especially as, if she passed the driving weekend, she’d be able to drive her new bike in less than a month.

The rest of the weekend passed pretty quietly, the birthday meal was a happy affair at Yang’s favourite restaurant, Ruby did some work on Oobleck’s homework, and Yang also worked on some homework (although only on the Sunday, and a little begrudgingly).

Soon enough it was Monday. Ruby packed her sports kit into her bag, some activewear leggings, a sports bra, and a loose matching top to match the leggings, plus her favourite red and black running shoes, along with a towel and some shampoo in case she needed a shower. Walking to school with Yang, Ruby was a little nervous about their P.E. class later that day, she wasn’t exactly well known for being gifted in a sporting way (she was actually more well known for being a little clumsy and able to trip up on almost anything), and was only really any good at running in a straight line. She hoped that like Art, this lesson wasn’t a graded one either. Before that however, were two of her favourite lessons, Maths and Physics. Weiss ignored her in Maths again, not even saying hello or acknowledging her. 

Their Physics teacher, a youngish looking guy with stubble that was almost, but not quite, a beard, was also a believer in seating everyone in alphabetical order, so Ruby was sat next to Weiss. Again. Ruby ran through it in her head, so far she shared five classes with Weiss, six if you include PE, and of those, only History and PE didn’t require them to sit next to each other. Ruby sighed, unless the teachers let them change seats or pick different ones, this was going to be a very long year. On the plus side, she was as good at Physics as she thought she would be, especially starting with Mechanics, which was about 90% Maths. And they didn’t get given homework either, which was another plus.

Ruby reached the changing rooms not long after Yang had, who had set herself up near a corner, but not actually in it. Ruby slipped into the corner next to her and smiled at Yang, who smiled back. She knew how awkward Ruby felt getting changed in a room with other girls, especially if they were to their underwear. Ruby had spoken with Yang about it in their last school, explaining that she felt strange getting changed with other girls. It was less about them looking at her, and more about her looking at them. When Yang had questioned further, Ruby admitted she wanted to look at their bodies, and she sort of liked it? It had been that conversation that had helped Ruby realise she wasn’t exactly as straight as most people would normally assume. 

Yang had put it a bit more bluntly, in typical Yang fashion, by saying she was a raging lesbian. Considering how Ruby had never found any guy remotely attractive, she agreed.

Since then, whenever she’d had to do PE, she usually got changed in a corner out the way, which made it more difficult for her to openly stare. She’d never actually done it, but the thought of doing it by accident and being caught and called out terrified her immensely. Having explained this to Yang a while ago, she was a little surprised, but happy, that Yang had remembered and deliberately made sure she had room in the corner to get changed. They headed out onto the field behind the school, which contained several different setups for different athletic events, including a running track, a high jump, a discus and shot put circle, as well as an area for javelin. Plus in the middle of the track was a generic sports field, currently marked out and with the posts for American Football.

Standing beside the track was a tall man in a grey tracksuit, close cropped black hair going grey at the sides, and small black eyes. He also wore a glove on his right hand, but not his left, which Ruby thought was strange.

“My name is Mr Ironwood and I will be your Physical Education teacher for the time you are at this school. I am also the head of all extracurricular activities that involve sport in some way.” He started pacing back and forth in front of them all, hands behind his back. “I may delegate certain responsibilities and tasks to other teachers or coaches, but ultimately everything that falls under sport is my responsibility.” He paused to let that sink in before continuing. “This term is focused on athletics. We will spend the next nine weeks doing different disciplines each week. Today is the 100m. Next week is the 200m, then the hurdles, high jump, long jump, triple jump, discus, shot put, and finally javelin.”

Ruby groaned, whilst she was happy this week and next were both sprints, the others were all terrible. Yang chuckled next to her, the thought of Ruby with a pointed javelin was absolutely terrifying. Even more so when she would have to throw it. Yang would make certain to be well behind her sister at that point.

“Following those nine weeks you will be split into various groups to focus on whichever discipline you excel or enjoy the most. Those groups will be track, jump, and field. The remaining six weeks of term will be dedicated to focusing on those disciplines within your group. Next term will be team sports, however I will discuss that further with you at the start of next term.” Having stopped pacing Mr Ironwood turned to face them, hands still behind his back. “Now we’ll go through some stretches and warm up.”

Following the stretches and warm ups he split the class into four groups of six before demonstrating the correct starting position and how to push off to them all. Ruby’s group included Yang, Weiss, the bow girl who Ruby learned was called Blake, and two guys called Idris and Eli, and they were the first group to race. Settling into the starting position Ruby suddenly thought that as the others were all two years older than her, she was going to have to not hold back much at all. So when Mr Ironwood fired the starting pistol, she focused her eyes on the finish line and ran. She only allowed herself to slow down when she knew she’d crossed it, passing Mr Ironwood as he had taken up position at the end to time everyone. 

She looked around, breathing slightly faster than normal but otherwise not much different than normal. She saw Yang grinning like a maniac, Weiss was slightly shocked, Blake had headed back to the rest of the students already, Idris was looking at her strangely, and Eli was panting but cackling like an idiot. Ruby suddenly felt very, very awkward and very worried. What did I do? Oh god did I embarrass myself? Yang clapped a hand on Ruby’s back, “Nicely done Rubes, you showed them!” 

“Err what?” Ruby was confused, and it wasn’t helping her anxiety.

“Ruby you were like a whole second ahead of everyone else in our group. I knew you were fast but when did you get that fast?” Yang was still grinning, clearly proud of her little sister.

“Oh.” Shit. I hadn’t meant to be that fast. I hadn’t meant to stand out. Now people will start making fun of me again like back at Signal...

Yang saw through her immediately, “Stop it. Being fast is a good thing. This is high school, I’d love to say people are more mature all round and mean it, but it would be a lie, and we both know it. But when it comes to sports? Being good isgood.”

As if to cement her point, Eli walked past with Idris and nudged Ruby’s shoulder with his arm. “Damn, Speedy! I thought I was quick but I got my ass handed to me! I’ll beat you in the next one though!” Still laughing, he motioned with his fingers that his eyes were watching her, and kept walking to his friendship group.

Yang smiled, “See? He was the only one close to you and you were still way faster than him. He’s not angry with you or making fun of you. If anything he was taking the piss out of himself!” Her voice softened and she looked Ruby in the eyes, “It’s okay to be good at something. That’s why you’re here two years early. Beacon is a school to excel at, where being great is just part of the norm.” Ruby nodded and Yang pulled her into a hug. 

The next few groups were a lot closer, there were only one or two people who were either faster than everyone else or slower. Then it was Ruby’s group again. She didn’t push herself as hard as before, but she still made sure to win. She even found herself starting to enjoy it a little, especially as Yang kept looking proud of her, and Eli was insisting after every race he’d catch her next time, whilst Idris just shook his head and rolled his eyes. After every group had three sprints, with Mr Ironwood giving pointers and demonstrations between each sprint, helping each person improve slightly, it was the final time for Ruby’s group. Settling into the starting position Ruby breathed slowly. It’s okay to be great. It’s okay to be great. Steeling herself, Ruby decided to really push herself. So she did. When she turned back after crossing the finishing line, actually breathing hard this time, Yang’s grin was even wider than before, Weiss looked even more shocked than after the first race, and Eli was panting but still grinning. He passed her by whilst laughing, “Alright Speedy, you win this week. My real event is the 200 metres. I’ll get you then!”

At the end of the lesson Ruby was startled by a voice calling for her. “Miss Rose?” Mr Ironwood had walked over, Yang was headed for the changing room with everyone else, and Ruby got the feeling this was a conversation just for her, so she slowed down a little to walk at the same pace as Mr Ironwood. “Did you ever run for your middle school at all?”

“Umm no sir.” Ruby was nervous, why was she being asked that?

“Did you have any specific training on running?”

“Err, none other than the training in PE similar to what you’ve shown us today sir.” Ruby was even more nervous.

“We have an athletics meet after school tonight. Please come along. With how fast you are, you’d have a place on the team straight away, and with the proper training you could easily be one of the fastest in the area. By a distance.” Mr Ironwood wasn’t joking, from the look of him Ruby wasn’t sure he ever joked.

“Umm thank you for the offer sir, really, thank you. Erm but I’m worried about my other lessons, I got moved ahead two years so I already feel quite behind in a few of them, Spanish in particular, and I know I need to do quite a lot of studying to keep up, and to get through school and into university I need my grades to be high and I don’t think I’d be able to keep up with my studies and go through all the training necessary to be a good member of the athletics team. I’m friends with Pyrrha Nikos who does javelin and discus, and she’s told me about the amount of sessions she has to do after school, which I think is really impressive and very dedicated, but I think if I did that it would have a bad impact on my other lessons, and I wouldn’t want to join the team and not put in the full effort like other people would be.” Ruby realised she’d stopped to take only a couple of breaths in that little speech and now held another waiting for Ironwood’s response.

By this point they’d reached the door to the changing rooms which was still open. He looked her in the eyes for a moment, as if gauging her, working out if she honestly believed everything she said or was just trying to wriggle herself out of it. It was about half and half, she was worried about Spanish and English, although she thought she could handle the rest of the lessons and knowledge gap just fine...but he didn’t need to know that. Especially as joining the track team would involve spending a lot of time with new people and going to different places with the people she didn’t really know, and maybe even staying overnight, and it wasn’t something that really appealed to her and the anxiety that was hiding within.

Then he nodded once, “It’s good to study, and to focus on academics, but you need an outlet. Sports are a good outlet, and taking care of your body will help your mind. The offer will remain, so if you do change your mind, please just let me know.”

“Yes sir, I will.” Walking inside Ruby nearly crashed into Weiss again just inside the doorway, but this time managed to catch herself before she did. She looked at Weiss with a sheepish grin and said “Sorry?” Weiss just looked at her with a cold gaze for a moment, then turned away and got her clothes out to get changed into. Ruby sighed with relief, At least she’s not shouting at me again, before she went to her bag in the corner and got changed. Ruby headed to lunch with Yang, meeting up with Pyrrha and the others, and whilst she took part in the conversation, it was fairly obvious to everyone that she was distracted, her head full of thoughts that the head of sports wanted her to join the track team. He hadn’t suggested she might enjoy it, he’d straight up told her that he wanted her to join.

Workshop that afternoon was excellent. Ruby managed to shake off the surprising end to the PE lesson and focus. Their teacher, Professor Mulberry, told them that whilst the final result would be graded, they were free to do whatever they liked, and he would judge it on the individual merits of the idea, execution, as well as planning and the accompanying paperwork. The first couple of weeks would be spent on coming up with an idea as well as preliminary research, including ideas in how to make it, before presenting it to him. Ruby grinned. This was basically free rein to do whatever she liked and make whatever she liked. Leaning back she cracked her knuckles and started writing and sketching, planning out various ideas. By the end of the first period she had narrowed it down to two ideas. During the second period she fleshed them both out a little more and decided to go with the second idea, even though it would be a bit more complicated than the first, she was confident she could pull it off, but it would take a lot of planning.

The school day ended and Ruby walked back on her own, going home to an empty house, as Tai had taken Zwei out on a walk. Ruby kicked her boots off, dropped her hoody into a chair and sat down at her desk to look up possible ideas to help with her project. Whilst the school internet wasn’t awful, it still blocked an awful lot of sites that were actually really useful. Seeing a message pop up on her screen, Ruby opened it.

Yang

Hey sis!

Ruby

Hey :)

Yang

Can u help me with maths? I dont get it :(

Ruby

Y r u messaging? Just come up and ask

Yang

Dont want dad 2 no

Ruby

-_-‘

Ruby managed to somehow help Yang her Maths homework over messenger without their Dad finding out, Yang ending the conversation with an offer to help on English or Biology when Ruby needed it. The next day Ruby and Yang headed to school together, and (as Ruby put it) survived English. They spent the next free together sat on the grass outside the cafeteria, before Yang headed to Chemistry and Ruby headed to the library, deciding to finish one of the graphic novels she’d got out last week. Walking in, she spotted Weiss sat at one of the tables to one side, a heavy textbook in front of her. It’s probably best not to disturb her, she’s already sort of annoyed at me, and she never did apologise for yelling at me, even if she did say she’d gone over the top. Having run through it in her head, Ruby came to the conclusion that the potential fallout of disturbing and angering her wasn’t worth it, so best to leave her alone. She does look lonely though...

Sitting at a different table far enough away from Weiss so as not to disturb her, but still facing her, Ruby continued where she’d left off from the graphic novel. By the time the lunch bell went, she was about two thirds of the way through, so she slipped it into her bag and was about to head to the cafeteria to meet Yang when she saw Weiss hadn’t started to pack up or move, she was still buried in the large textbook, scribbling away in a notebook. Ruby looked at the clock on the wall, then back at Weiss, before walking over to the table. “Umm...Weiss?” No reply. “Weiss?” Still no reply. Ruby gently touched Weiss’ shoulder only for her to jump and flinch away. Weiss looked up at Ruby with an icy glare that was at full force, before slowly removing one of the wireless earphones that had been hidden in her ear by her hair, continuing the glare the whole time. “It’s lunchtime, I wasn’t sure if you’d heard the bell.” Ruby was nervous and quite sheepish.

“I did hear it.” Weiss voice was flat and a little cold.

“Oh. Ok. Just, it isn’t good to miss meals, it doesn’t help with studying...” Ruby laughed nervously.

Weiss gaze softened slightly, still cold, but not as icy as before. And whilst her next words weren’t exactly said warmly, they didn’t seem to be accompanied by as much coldness, “I have a salad in my bag that I will eat after this next page.”

“That’s good. Yeah, that’s good!” Ruby stood there awkwardly for a moment, Weiss just staring at her with light blue eyes, then Ruby realised she had nothing to say to Weiss, and with wide eyes went, “I have to get lunch now bye!” Although Ruby didn’t sprint off, she definitely walked quickly, a small pink spreading across her cheeks. _Well that could have gone better, but she didn’t yell at me. That’s alright. It got awkward at the end though. Stop. It got awkward but that’s ok, we don’t know each other, so having nothing to say is normal, it doesn’t mean there’s anything wrong._ Ruby focused on breathing slowly, trying to calm down the rising panic before it took over. Reaching Yang and the others she smiled at them and sat next to her sister, who passed a cookie over without saying anything. Pyrrha smiled at Ruby as well, and the rest of the group included her in their conversation straight away, and the sense of belonging helped with her anxiety.

Maths and Physics passed by with Weiss ignoring Ruby again, although the next morning in homeroom things were slightly different. Ruby had ended up getting to school earlier than normal, Yang having had to run back home as she’d forgotten a book she needed later that day, leaving Ruby to walk half the way to school on her own, which with her normal high paced walk meant she was one of the first to homeroom. She’d thought she would have been the first when she walked in, only to find Weiss already sat in the class room, facing forward, eyes closed. Trying not to disturb her, Ruby went to her seat quietly and sat down, pulling a notebook and pen out to work on her idea for Workshop some more.

“Did you mean what you said to Mr Ironwood?”

“Aaahh!” Ruby jumped and let out a cry of surprise. Weiss voice had startled her, the teenager next to her had turned to face her, ice blue eyes staring directly at her own. “Erm what?” Ruby was timid in her reply, although she wasn’t really sure why.

Weiss rolled her eyes and spoke slowly, “On Monday, after the P.E. lesson, Mr Ironwood asked you to be part of the track team. You said no because you had to study. Did you mean what you said about keeping up with your classes?” Her voice was a little harsh, and the way she spoke gave off the impression she was talking to either a child or an idiot. It was an idea Ruby didn’t appreciate.

“Yes, I did. I got in two years early, so I missed two years of classes. Of course, I have to study to keep up.” Her voice took a slight edge as she replied, a little annoyed by Weiss’ tone.

“That’s not what I meant you dolt.” Weiss response was sharp. “I was going to say it was a mature response putting your academic classes above sports, but maturity is clearly an area you’re lacking in.” Her slightly mocking tone only annoyed Ruby further. Who does she think she is?

“I’m sorry I’m not mature enough for you, Princess.”

“Tch. No, you’re really not.” Weiss dismissed her and faced forward.

“So much for not actively hating one another.” Ruby muttered under her breath, not expecting the girl next to her to hear, and Ruby buried her head in her notebook, deciding to ignore Weiss before they got into a more heated argument. What she didn’t see was Weiss go slightly pink across her cheeks, screw her eyes up, and mouth several expletives.

She composed herself before starting to say “Rub...”

“Hey Ruby! Told you I’d make it on time!” Yang came bounding through the door, cutting Weiss off, who immediately acted as if she hadn’t been about to say anything, although Ruby didn’t notice. What Ruby did notice was that about half the class had come in by now, and thankfully nobody seemed to have either spotted or heard the argument between the two girls. The rest of the month passed by with Weiss and Ruby actively ignoring one another, only speaking when necessary in Chemistry to do the experiments from Dr Ignis, but other than that they didn’t say a word to one another.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Managed to get this one out a lot quicker than the first half of it thankfully, and I'll try to update as often as I can. Thank you for any comments, kudos, bookmarks, or subscriptions and hell, thank you very much for even taking the time to read this! I've got plans for quite a lot more goings on that I can't wait to get to, so hopefully you'll stick around until then...


	4. October Year 1

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Yang chats with Pyrrha, and Ruby has a paired Chemistry project.

“Ok, seriously, does anyone know where Pyrrha is? I feel like she hasn’t been at lunch the entire week...”

It was the first week of October and Yang was getting worried and, if she was being honest, a little annoyed with Pyrrha. Outside of the two classes they shared together she hadn’t seen the redhead once.

Nora piped up, “I think she’s been helping Jaune with Maths.”

“Is he that bad at it?” Ruby asked.

“Well he’s in the same Maths class as me and Cardick. So yeah, he’s pretty bad at it.”

Ruby tilted her head in confusion, _Who the hell is Cardick?_

“Cardin.” Ren answered the unspoken question with his usual deadpan.

The bell rang and everyone headed to their classes, whilst Yang headed to the field for her free. She took her flannel off and rolled it up into a makeshift pillow and lay back on the grass, setting an alarm before she put her phone in her bra and closed her eyes to relax, letting her thoughts wander. 

All too soon the alarm went off, disrupting her daydreams and she got up, stretching her arms and back out. She headed to the final class of her day, Physics. Later that evening, Yang messaged Pyrrha:

**Yang** :

Hey Pyrrha

**Pyrrha** :

Hello Yang. How are you?

**Yang** :

Im good thanks u? 

U free tomorrow?

**Pyrrha** :

I am good as well. Aside from my daily exercise I should be, yes. Would you like to meet up?

**Yang** :

Yeah, meet me after my shift at 2?

**Pyrrha** :

Certainly, I’ll see you then.

**Yang** :

Cool, night

**Pyrrha** :

Goodnight Yang.

The next day Yang woke up at 5 in the morning as usual for a Saturday, stretching and heading downstairs to do herself a quick coffee. Rolling her shoulders, she leaned against the kitchen counter slowly sipping the coffee. As she steadily grew closer to what could be considered ‘awake’, she finished the coffee off before pouring a second one, drinking it much quicker. Yang grabbed her bag filled with her uniform, climbed into Tai’s truck, and headed to the coffee shop where she worked.

Her shift dragged a little, until the mid-morning rush, and by the time it finished at 2, she hadn’t realised so much time had gone by. 

“Hello!” Yang looked up to see the red headed athlete walk in, dressed in more casual clothes of a loose sweater and jeans. Smiling and waving at her, Yang finished the last order, made a couple of extra drinks, clocked out, grabbed the two cups of still hot drinks, and slid into the booth opposite Pyrrha.

Passing one over to her best friend, Yang greeted her, and they spent a little bit of time exchanging small talk. This didn’t last long however, as Yang decided to get to the bottom of her recent disappearances. “I believe you have something to tell me.”

“I do?” What Yang hadn’t been expecting was for Pyrrha to attempt to deny all knowledge.

“Yes, you do. _Apparently_ ,” Yang over exaggerated the word, “You have been ditching your best friend to tutor someone else! The very nerve! Surely there must be a _very_ good reason for it...” She was grinning as she said it, not truly meaning it. What she wasn’t expecting was for Pyrrha’s face to turn a very slight pink. “Wait. Wait. Waaaaait a minute.” Pyrrha immediately looked down into her drink and brought it up towards her face to try and hide the fact that her cheeks were getting steadily pinker. “ _No._ ” Yang couldn’t believe it. “Are my eyes deceiving me here? Pyrrha Nikos. _The_ Pyrrha Nikos...has a crush?” Yang’s voice got higher and any lingering annoyance from being ditched vanished in a heartbeat.

“N-no. Of course I don’t have a crush. That’s ridic...” Pyrrha began before Yang cut her off.

“Pyrrha Minerva Nikos you have the worst poker face ever, so don’t even _try_ to lie to me.” 

Yang stared at Pyrrha with her eyebrows raised until the redhead lowered her cup slightly and said in a small voice, “Maybe.” Yang’s grin was close to splitting her face in two, and she started to jump up to shout in happiness until Pyrrha grabbed her arm and stopped her, forcing her back into her seat. “Shhhh!”

“Ok you have got to give me _all_ the details. You’ve not had a crush on anyone the entire time I’ve known you, so you need to explain to me how in the hell you have a crush on Jaune Arc.” Yang was giddy with excitement.

“You _have_ to keep it a secret!” Pyrrha was insistent on that, and glared at Yang until she nodded, crossed her heart, and mimed locking her mouth and throwing away an imaginary key. Now Yang had agreed, Pyrrha allowed herself to grin and it was nearly as big as Yang’s. “It’s _wonderful_.”

“Spill. Don’t leave anything out.” Yang leaned forward, she’d never seen her best friend like this before, and it was fantastic to see. So Pyrrha did as Yang asked and spilled the details. She’d liked him since the first day when he asked who she was, which got Yang spluttering a little, as she’d just taken a drink and that was _not_ what she‘d expected. Apparently whilst he’d heard of Pyrrha before, he didn’t put two and two together and realise it was her until somebody pointed it out in passing. Whilst he was apologetic when he found out, he didn’t let it change the way he acted around her.

“Jaune treats me like a _normal_ person, not a great athlete to be put on a pedestal and admired from afar. He cares about what I want, what I like, not what other people think I would.” Yang watched as Pyrrha’s face was a light pink and there was a faraway look in her eye. The colouring went a lot darker at her next words however, “Plus, I...I find him...quite attractive. He’s soft, and nice, and tall, his eyes are a gorgeous blue, and he’s quite a bit stronger than you’d think...” Yang smiled softly as Pyrrha kept describing him. _She’s got it bad. Real bad._

“So, wedding bells will be ringing in the near future then Mrs Arc?” Yang couldn’t resist a little bit of teasing and Pyrrha swatted her arm in response.

“No! He doesn’t see me like that. I’m a friend, and someone to help him, that’s all.” Yang could detect a bit of wistfulness there.

“Are you sure?”

“Yes, he’s got his eyes set on Weiss Schnee, but that’s okay! Really it is! I’m happy just to spend time with him.” Pyrrha tried her hardest to force happiness into her voice, but Yang knew her too well and had known her for too long to be fooled. 

She reached out and brushed Pyrrha’s knuckles with her thumb. “Well seeing as the Ice Queen has turned down everyone who’s even tried to ask her out for _lunch_ , never mind a date, I don’t expect him to get anywhere fast with her.” She smirked at her best friend and even Pyrrha had to agree with that, “He already sees you as just plain Pyrrha, which is what you’ve wanted for so long. But if he doesn’t _also_ see you as the amazing, incredible, girlfriend worthy person that you are too, then he’s an idiot.”

Pyrrha smiled at Yang and gripped her friend’s hands in return. “Thank you, Yang.” She then changed the smile to a smirk, “How about you then? Has anyone caught your eye?”

Yang coughed and looked away, knowing her poker face was about as good as Pyrrha’s. “Nope. No one at all.”

Pyrrha just waited. She knew that if she waited and stared long enough then Yang would crack. Seeing Yang’s eyes flick back to her unwavering gaze before darting away again, Pyrrha knew she wouldn’t have to wait for long. Finally, after another couple of minutes, and several more quick glances, Yang gave in. “Aargh, fine. Yes.”

Pyrrha said nothing, it was much more effective with Yang to just let her say everything, which she proceeded to do.

“She’s gorgeous. I mean, she is just breath-taking. She’s got this beautiful black hair, and these amazing amber eyes, I swear I could drown in them, I noticed as soon as she walked into our class, but didn’t want to make too much of it, or stare too much, and she wears this adorable black bow all the time! She even wears it in PE. PE. Oh my god is she a sight to see in PE. She wears these shorts that aren’t skin-tight, but might as well be, and she wears a normal sports top, but it hugs her body in all the right places, and then there’s those shorts. Oh, I could talk for days about her in those shorts. We did the triple jump on Monday and her ass in those shorts when she ran was godly to watch, especially when she jumped.”

Pyrrha raised an eyebrow, and Yang continued, “Ok fine, it’s not just about how she looks, cos she’s so smart! I understand why people say smart is sexy because it really is with her. She’s in my French class, and it is just heaven listening to her speak. Literal heaven. She’s in my English, History, Biology, and Physics classes too, and she’s so good! Like, top of the class good. Plus, she’s so mysterious! She doesn’t talk much, always has a book out, is a bit aloof, but not in the way that she thinks she’s too good for everyone else, just that she doesn’t want to really be around people she’s not comfortable with. I think that’s right, cos she’s got a small circle of friends and she sticks with them a lot.”

Pyrrha smiled, not missing the irony of the reversed roles. “So why don’t you talk to her? You always make everyone feel comfortable around you, it’s who you are. You can’t just watch from afar forever.”

“I can’t just go up and talk to her Pyrrha! She’s so beautiful and clever, I’d be tongue tied and wouldn’t know what to say! I’m nervous just thinking about it!” Yang put her head in her hands.

Pyrrha stared at her. “Tongue tied? The great Yang Xiao Long, punmaster extraordinaire, and champion boxer, would be tongue tied?” She chuckled a little.

“Pyrrha, we both know I’m a hot gay mess, don’t pretend it would end well.”

“You shouldn’t doubt yourself that much. You would do wonderfully.”

Yang looked up, “I don’t know how or why you have such faith in me, but thanks. We both know I’ll fuck it up.”

Pyrrha laughed, “Probably, but at least make sure you do it when I can see.”

————————————

“Now then,” Dr Ignis’ voice, a little croaky from his latest experiment, called out “Part of the curriculum that I have to adhere to, despite the quite frankly mundane aspect of it, is to assign two research projects per year.” Ruby felt her heart stop. She knew where this was going. _If it’s paired then_ _please let us pick our partners, please let us pick our partners._ “I have uploaded a selection of the accepted topics onto the study site. You should all be familiar with the site if you take either Barty’s History or Peter’s Economics and Business classes.” A small smirk crossed his face at the thought of his colleagues’ lessons, “You will be working in pairs, and yes it will be your lab partners.”

Ruby knew it. And from the quiet groan that came from beside her, Weiss felt the same way as Ruby. She looked out the corner of her eye and saw Weiss’ face scrunched up slightly in a grimace with her eyes closed. Ruby felt her heartbeat quicker, and not in a ‘ _Oh my God I’ve got a crush_ ’ kind of way either. She tried to breathe slowly and deeply, whilst focusing on what Dr Ignis was saying, which took a lot of concentration.

“You have four weeks to research and write the paper. I expect there to be clearly defined sections done by each participant, and the grade will be both individual _and_ paired. So, if your partner does not pull their weight, then it will not completely screw you. Only partially. Get started!” Dr Ignis clapped his hands together and then made shooing motions, before sitting at his desk.

Weiss looked at Ruby and grabbed her bag off the floor. “We both have frees next, so you’re coming to the library with me. Now.” She stood up and headed for the door, Ruby gaping after her before she picked her bag up and scurried after her. The click of Weiss’ heels was louder than the soft clump of Ruby’s boots, especially as she took slightly longer strides than Ruby, who had to walk quickly to keep up.

Weiss didn’t stop walking until they reached the library, when she headed for the computer banks and sat at one, indicating Ruby should take the computer next to her. They hadn’t spoken a word the entire time they’d walked, with Ruby being a bit intimidated and anxious to talk, not wanting to say the wrong thing and piss Weiss off even more than she already seemed, but now they reached the computers Ruby felt that she had to say something. “So...umm...how do you think we should split this?”

“Why don’t we see what we’re being graded on, and then I’ll decide how much you’re allowed to work on, okay?” The smile that followed was lacking in any form of warmth and was so fake it annoyed Ruby immediately. Weiss logged into the computer and brought the grading criteria up. Scanning through it quickly, she breathed out very heavily in clear annoyance. “You will be doing exactly half of it. And you will not mess it up. Do you understand?”

Ruby narrowed her eyes, “Sure thing Princess. Feel free to go through my work at the end of this to make sure it’s up to your exacting standards.” 

They stared daggers at each other for a minute, before Ruby sighed. “We’re not doing this whole ‘Not hate each other’ thing well right now, are we?”

Weiss looked down, “No. We’re not...” She sighed, “I just need to get the best possible grade, and I do _not_ want this going wrong. And if your writing skills are as good as your handwriting, then there’s a lot that can go wrong.”

“Hey, my handwriting is perfectly legible!” Ruby protested, but when Weiss glared at her, she muttered “To some people...and my writing skills _are_ better.”

“Good. Let’s pick a topic we can write about, and then start planning.” And they did. The pair decided to do it on ‘Chemical Hydrolysis with Acidic Salts’, Ruby pointing out that when she’d had to go to the chemistry cupboard for Dr Ignis a couple of lessons ago, she remembered having to move several acidic salts off a shelf to get to something else, so there would be plenty of material to work with in class.

They spent the remainder of the free period sat at one of the tables making tentative plans of what to do and write, before hearing the bell go for lunch.

Ruby looked up and then at Weiss, “Erm...I need to get some lunch. I’m guessing you brought your own lunch again?”

Weiss blinked, a little surprised that Ruby had remembered that fact from the previous month. “Yes...I did. Look, we need to keep working on this, I assume you have a computer at home?” Ruby nodded and Weiss continued, “Do some research into the topic tonight then.” She ripped a piece of paper out a notebook and scribbled something down on it before handing it to Ruby. “Come to my house either tomorrow or Sunday. Don’t come before 1pm on either day. Press the buzzer at the gates and say you’re here to work on a school project with me. When the gates open, go to the door on the right. We’ll continue the work then.”

Ruby looked down at the piece of paper and saw an address written in flowing, cursive handwriting. “Erm...okay. See you later then.” Weiss simply nodded and turned back to the table and her notebook.

Ruby headed off to the usual place in the cafeteria, and whilst she chatted with the others, Pyrrha and Jaune having also returned to the group, Ruby wasn’t as involved as normal. The last period was on her mind, once they’d agreed to try not to hate each other again, her and Weiss had been...civil? _Whilst Weiss wasn’t exactly been friendly or even particularly nice, she hadn’t been mean either. Maybe she’s not as bad as she seems? I mean she did invite me round tomorrow._ Fortunately, Nora was distracting everyone by...well, by being herself, so nobody noticed Ruby was being a little quieter than usual. 

Maths was no different than usual, Weiss still ignored her completely. Ruby didn’t expect anything to have really changed just yet, they had only had one slightly productive period together after all. Walking back on her own as Yang had gone to boxing practice, Ruby wondered whether, along with the research for the project, she should maybe try and get to know Weiss a bit better. _I mean, she’s probably quite nice under all that meanness...plus she’s in like half my classes so if we could be friends then it would be really good! That’s it then, I’ll do a bunch of research and wow her socks off tomorrow! Yang did say being ‘good’ was good so_...

The next day, after a quizzical look from her Dad when Ruby announced she was going out, a few A4 pages of notes in her bag along with a memory stick of the research she’d done, Ruby headed over to Weiss’ house. She’d planned to leave first thing in the morning but remembered at the last minute Weiss had said _not_ to go before 1pm, and it wouldn’t help her quest to be friends with Weiss if she messed up straight away. 

Again.

It took Ruby a good half an hour to walk to Weiss’ house, following the maps app on her phone. The route took Ruby from the small neighbourhood she lived in, through another two areas of houses that were getting steadily larger, through to what was jokingly (except it wasn’t a joke) called ‘Millionaire’s Road’. What it actually was, was two roads with about six houses on each side, all gated, and all looking highly expensive. Each house was easily three times the size of Ruby’s, with more floors to each house than her own. Even more floors if there were basements. Ruby stopped outside the third house along, roughly in the middle of the road.

Looking up she felt suitably intimidated. She’d recognised Weiss’ surname, there probably wasn’t anyone on the planet who didn’t, the Schnee Energy Company owned multiple coal mines, but also various other energy suppliers. Ruby had thought Weiss was maybe a cousin or distant relative, or just someone who shared the same surname as a coincidence. Standing at the silver gates, decorated with various snowflakes and other Wintery designs, she could tell that Weiss’ last name matching the Schnee Energy Company was _not_ a coincidence.

_Oh Gods I am so underdressed right now!_ Ruby had dressed like normal, with her usual red hoody and jeans, but seeing the mansion she figured it would have been better to turn up in a dress or something like that. Ruby stopped in front of the buzzer and breathed slowly a few times, determined not to start panicking. She realised she must have been standing outside for about ten minutes getting her breathing under control, and quickly pressed the buzzer before she chickened out.

There was a loud buzzer noise, then almost immediately followed by a quick crackle before a voice answered, “May I help you?”

“Oh! Um hi! I’m here to see Weiss Schnee? I’m doing a school project with her?” Ruby was feeling quite awkward and it showed in her voice.

There was a moment of silence before the voice answered again, “Very well. Please come up.” There was a loud buzzer again, but a different tone, and then the gates opened silently. Ruby had almost expected them to creak as they opened, like in horror movies, but she figured that real rich people wouldn’t want anything creaking, especially their front gates.

_What did Weiss say? Was it the door on the left or the door on the right? Why are there so many doors!_ Ruby wracked her brain trying to remember as she stood in front of three separate doors, one grand entrance to what looked like the main building, double oak doors surrounded by marble, then there was a smaller, much plainer door to the left, simple painted wood, painted white as if to blend into the outside design. The door on the right was somewhere between the two, it was part of a secondary building that was still attached to the main one.

Ruby ran through it in her head, if Weiss was _that_ rich, then maybe the door on the left was the servant’s door like in those weird dramas where people wore stuffy clothes? Which means it would be the door on the right!

Feeling pleased with herself for figuring it out, she walked up to the door and knocked. As soon as the knocks rang out, she stepped back quickly, putting her hands by her side. Then in her hoody pockets, before deciding on in front of her, and then finally, by the time the door was opened, by her side again.

The man that opened the door was quite tall and thin, with slightly balding grey hair. He wore an impeccable suit, with a waistcoat underneath, what looked to be a pocket watch chain running out of a pocket - something Ruby thought was only used over a hundred years ago or something daft like that - and a pair of thin half-moon glasses with grey piercing eyes looking down at her over the top of them. He was standing very straight, easily a foot taller than Ruby, peering down at her with slightly narrowed eyes. His voice was quite deep when he spoke, and it was laced with contempt, “Can I help you?” The voice was distinctly different from the voice from the buzzer.

The entire outfit and stance would have been highly intimidating, if it wasn’t for the bright pink rubber gloves reaching his elbows and a very large, and very pink, feather duster in one hand.

Ruby struggled not to laugh at the massive disconnect between the scary person before her and the very pink accessories that completely ruined his image. She composed herself and repeated what she’d said at the gate, “I’m here to work on a school project with Weiss Schnee?”

One of the man’s eyebrows rose considerably before he said, “Please follow me.” Turning on his heel he strode into the hallway, Ruby hurrying after him, the door closing behind her automatically. Scurrying to keep up, Ruby could faintly hear classical music coming from further down the hall. The man, well Ruby supposed he was a butler or something, was walking too fast for her to do anything really other than keep up with him, so she didn’t get a chance to look around properly as he led her through the first hall, up a staircase, and then down another hallway before stopping in front of a door that was pure white, the classical music seemed to be coming from inside as it was much louder now.

“Your name?”

“Huh? Oh! Ruby. Ruby Rose.” Ruby was thrown by the sudden question, as he hadn’t said a word before they’d stopped.

He rapped his knuckles on the door four times before opening it, “Miss Rose for a school project Miss Schnee.”

The music stopped as the door opened and Ruby walked in past him holding the strap on her messenger bag with both hands and stood awkwardly just inside the doorway, peering around at the room. It was white and light blue, everywhere. The walls were painted white, the bed frame was white and the bedsheets light blue, the carpet was a light blue, and even the furniture was white. The shades varied slightly, but she could look at them all and say it was white or light blue. Sitting in a normal black desk chair, which contrasted massively against the white desk, was Weiss.

“Thank you, Geoffrey, if you could just bring a spare chair please, I’ll let you get back to your cleaning.” Her voice was almost the same as it was at school when she answered a question but had a more authoritative tone to it. He nodded and left the room immediately, pulling the door shut behind him. Ruby jumped slightly at the clack as the door closed, giving it a quick glance before looking back at Weiss. 

She was sat with one leg bent over the other, her wrists resting on her knee. “Err...hi.” Ruby tried to smile and waved awkwardly. Weiss rolled her eyes and motioned to the space next to her. Ruby walked over, and by the time she’d reached it the door was opening again and Geoffrey - _Weird name, but maybe not for a butler?_ \- was bringing in a second desk chair. Where he’d got it from or how he’d got it so fast was beyond Ruby, but it was there. He placed it next to Weiss’ desk, bowed slightly, then left the room again. Ruby slipped into the chair, placing her messenger bag between her feet, which only just reached the floor.

There was silence for a few moments before Weiss spoke up, “Did you do any research?”

“Yeah, I did quite a bit.” Ruby reached down and pulled the memory stick out of her bag and passed it over to Weiss who plugged it into the computer and loaded it up. Ruby looked at Weiss and could see that she was a little surprised at the amount of work that she’d already done, and Ruby couldn’t help a little smug smirk slip onto her face.

They worked together for the next couple of hours, and Ruby could tell that Weiss was softening ever so slightly. It wasn’t much, but it was something, so the next chance she got, she decided to try and go for it and make a new friend. Half an hour later they’d reached the furthest point they could go without actually doing the experiments, which would have to wait until their next Chemistry lesson, and Ruby saw her chance. “Hey Weiss?”

“Yes?”

“We should get to know each other better!” Ruby tried to put on her biggest smile.

Weiss looked confused, “Why?”

“Well...” Ruby hadn’t expected that. She racked her brains trying to come up with an excuse that Weiss would go with, “...because I want to know more about you?” 

She could have slapped herself. Weiss’ eyes narrowed and Ruby desperately tried to think quickly, “Well we’re going to be sat next to each other and most teachers will probably end up pairing us up for various projects so if we know more about each other it’ll help with working on the projects and get better grades...” It was a terrible excuse and she knew it but went for it with everything she had, including her patented ‘Ruby’s Impossible To Turn Down Puppy Dog Eyes’, which had never failed her yet with her family, and hopefully wouldn’t here.

She stuck her bottom lip out ever so slightly and trembled it, her silver eyes wide open, staring straight into Weiss’ blue eyes, her whole face screaming ‘Pretty please do what I want’. Weiss stared at her for a few seconds before turning away and muttering, ever so quietly, “Fine.” _Yes! Ok, now to actually learn more about her project partner_.

“How about questions and answers? Except you have to say a minimum of five words for each answer, so you can’t get away with just yes or no.”

Weiss raised an eyebrow and turned back around to face Ruby, “Ok then, if we absolutely have to.” She sounded a little exasperated, but willing to tolerate it, “You have to answer honestly, and we take it in turns to ask questions.”

“Deal!” Ruby was happy that Weiss was just going to play along.

“Your idea, you go first.”

“Right, ok then...erm...” Ruby’s brain was blank for a few moments before she remembered the classical music that had been playing before she reached the room, “What’s your favourite kind of music?”

Weiss considered for a moment before answering “Probably classical music, it helps me focus and do my work.”

“Ok, but what’s your favourite to listen to, if you had to sit back and just listen to one type of music, what would it be?”

“That’s a second question, and it’s not your turn.” Weiss smirked and Ruby gasped and crossed her arms, pulling a pouty face. “My turn, do you prefer tea or coffee?”

“Coffee.” Ruby answered before Weiss stayed silent and waited before Ruby remembered that it had to be five words or more. She rolled her eyes; first question and she was already getting caught out by her own rules. “With cream and five sugars.” Weiss blinked twice and looked at Ruby like she had two heads. “What? I like it sweet...” Ruby rubbed the back of her neck feeling a little awkward. “If you only had one sense what would it be?” _That was a good one_ she thought, _interesting and thought provoking_.

Weiss thought for a moment looking at the ceiling, “I’d have to say sight. Sign language makes up for being deaf and mute, and touch can be overrated. Eyes are always useful.” 

“Ooh that’s a good answer! I’d say taste just because if I could never taste chocolate chip cookies again, I think I’d die.” Ruby shivered at the very thought. “Now then...what...”

“Hey! It’s my turn to ask!” Weiss cut her off.

“But I just answered!” Ruby looked confused.

“I never asked a question; you chose to answer all on your own.” Weiss smirked again, and Ruby got the distinct feel that Weiss was getting the better of her quite a bit. _It’s not that bad. She at least seems to be enjoying herself._ She pulled a face and looked at Weiss, who took it as permission to keep talking, “If you won a million dollars what would you do with it?”

“Fun answer or boring?” Ruby grinned.

“Both?” Weiss’ voice had a questioning tone, as if checking it was alright.

“Eh, I’ll allow it.” Ruby shrugged. “Boring answer is I’d invest it. I’m almost fifteen, I don’t _need_ a million dollars right now.” Weiss nodded; Ruby clearly had some maturity in her. “Fun answer is I’d spend it _allllllll_ on chocolate chip cookies.” Weiss slapped a hand to her forehead, causing Ruby to laugh out loud.

“You dolt, that would destroy your teeth!” Weiss snapped, causing Ruby to laugh even more.

“Totally worth it.” She grinned, making Weiss shake her head. “What is one thing that instantly makes your day better, no matter what?”

“Coffee. Specifically, a double espresso Romano.” Seeing Ruby’s confused look, she explained, “It’s a double shot of espresso, a small amount of cream, with a slice of lemon in it to finish it off.” 

Weiss tapped her bottom lip as she thought, “Ok, if you could magically become famous, would you choose to or not?”

“Nah, I wouldn’t want to be famous. Everyone wanting to know everything that goes on in your life with pretty much no privacy? No thanks” Ruby scoffed at the idea, and Weiss was silent, clearly a little surprised by the brunette’s answer.

Ruby thought about her next question, she didn’t want to go too deep into Weiss’ life right now, but still wanted to know more. _Weiss clearly isn’t someone with a very sweet tooth. Although...time to find out for sure_. “What’s your favourite ice cream topping?”

“Erm...” This time Weiss had to think. “I don’t have any? When I have ice cream it’s usually plain...”

Ruby looked stunned, “Nothing? No sprinkles? No chopped hazelnuts? No marshmallows?” She gasped and whispered, “Not even any sauce?” Weiss shifted her chair back a little at Ruby’s intense gaze. Ruby smiled softly and reached over to pat Weiss’ hand in a pitying way, “That’ll be fixed. That’ll be fixed.”

Weiss pulled her hand back quickly, looking at Ruby strangely. This conversation was getting ahead of her, and she needed to steer it back. “How come you’re ahead at school by two years?” From the look on Ruby’s face it wasn’t the correct question to ask and was clearly one she felt uncomfortable with.

“Well, I’m really _really_ good at Maths, and that sort of made up for everything else? I was a year ahead _anyway_ and even then I had to agree to make sure that I don’t fail a single class to even get a chance at taking the entrance exam, and then...well I guess my Maths pulled me through.”

There was an uncomfortable silence that was felt by both of them before Ruby quickly continued talking, “So! Weiss...umm what do you do after school? I saw you with a gym bag the other day and a weird, case, sorta thing?”

“Yes!” Weiss was quick to answer, not wanting to let the awkwardness continue, “I do stuff after school. I’m part of the fencing team.”

“Fencing! Oh my god like with actual swords and stuff?” Ruby was now bouncing in her chair with excitement.

“Umm...well sort of? There’s different types of fencing swords, there’s foil, sabre, and then there’s epée, which is my discipline.”

“Do you have your own sword?”

“Yes, as a matter of fact, I do.” Weiss sat up proudly.

“Aaaahhhhh!” Ruby’s eyes were wide open, and excitement was just shooting from every part of her, “Can I see? Can I? Can I? Please? Pleeeeeeeeeease?” Ruby was leaning forward really far, and Weiss suddenly had the strange thought of her falling off it.

“No. It’s at school locked up.”

“Awww...” Weiss was starting to think that this girl she’d been partnered with, regardless of how clever she must be to have got into school two years early, was just a human version of a puppy. Highly excitable, giant silver eyes, and the way her red and black hair flopped around was just cute. Weiss had a strange urge to ruffle the girl’s hair or pet her head.

“Maybe some point this week I can show you?” Seeing Ruby pout with unhappiness had made Weiss want to change that expression, she wasn’t sure why, she just felt a need to stop her pouting and looking upset. And the offer worked.

“Yeah! Please, that would be awesome!” Ruby’s face split into a massive grin, her eyes sparkling.

Weiss couldn’t help but chuckle at how much Ruby’s emotions flicked from happy to devastated, then to excited and happy again was incredible. The puppy description she’d just thought of was definitely apt.

There was a light tapping at the door and they both turned to look at it. “Yes?” Weiss voice had lost the little warmth it had gained and was back to the cold and distant tone it had been when Ruby had first arrived.

The door opened and Geoffrey the butler walked in. “It’s nearing 4.30 Miss Schnee.”

“Oh. Yes, it is. Thank you, Geoffrey, I’ll be through in a moment.” Weiss face managed to hide the grimace as she realised the time. “Can you show Ruby out please?” She looked at Ruby, “I’ve got a prior arrangement, but we covered everything we could do without actually doing the experiment itself.”

Ruby’s face fell slightly, she thought she’d been making some real progress, but she smiled to cover it up. “Yeah! Of course, that’s fine.” She grabbed her memory stick and the notes and put them back in her bag. “I’ll see you on Monday though?” A note of hope was in her voice as she looked at Weiss.

“Of course you will, we’re in the same homeroom you dunce.” Despite the slightly harsh words, the tone was a bit warmer, and Ruby could tell it was said without malice.

“See ya Monday then Weiss!” Ruby got up and waved as she headed to the door, following Geoffrey out.

Weiss let a small smile cross her face as Ruby left, maybe the girl wasn’t actually that bad after all. Hearing a beep from her computer that indicated an incoming call, she straightened herself, smoothed her top and put on a neutral expression before clicking accept.

“Good afternoon Father.”

——

True to her word Weiss showed Ruby her fencing sword, a gorgeous white epée that she called ‘Myrtenaster’. Ruby gushed over it, revealing a love for swords and other medieval weaponry, “They’re just so elegant! Nowadays weapons are all masculine and boring, but swords are just beautiful and graceful. There’s a reason future weaponry looks so cool and always has badass swords in!” She nodded her head like she’d made a highly valid point, but Weiss just couldn’t see it.

The next couple of Chemistry lessons were taken up with Ruby and Weiss actually doing the experiments and then writing the results up, which took less time than they’d thought. They’d gone to the library during the lessons to finish typing it up and they were both pleasantly surprised with each other.

Weiss was still a little surprised that Ruby was willing to work and could write well, even if she had to rely on Word for multiple grammar and spelling issues. Ruby meanwhile was, maybe not surprised exactly, but was happy that the slight warming up of Weiss continued, even if it was slight. They actually said hello and good morning to each other now, but it never really went any further than that.

They finished the project a couple of days before the end of the month and handed it in, Weiss having admitted she would accept the work that Ruby had done, and that it shouldn’t pull her grade down by _too_ much. She’d had a slight smirk on her face when she said it, so Ruby _thought_ she was joking, but wasn’t 100% sure.

One thing that Ruby was sure of however, was that the end of the month was going to be awesome. Her birthday fell on Halloween, and whilst she knew it wouldn’t be the party it had been when she turned 13, or it would be next year, she still looked forward to it.

And it didn’t disappoint.

Tai and Yang threw a small Halloween party for her, Pyrrha, Jaune, Nora, and Ren all came round dressed up in some brilliant costumes. Tai going as Frankenstein, Yang as Goldilocks, Pyrrha as Athena, Jaune as an old school knight, complete with a wooden sword and shield, whilst Nora and Ren went as the Blues Brothers, dressed up in suits and sunglasses, and finally the birthday girl went as little Red Riding Hood.

One of the games they played was one Tai had heard about from a ‘pen pal’ of his, where you hung a ring doughnut from the ceiling with a string, and tried to eat it without using your hands. It was a close competition between Tai (who had clearly practiced beforehand) and Ruby, until Nora went for it. Ruby swore afterwards that she’d unhinged her jaw like a ginger snake or something, because Nora ate the entire doughnut in two bites.

“I’m queen of the castle, I’m queen of the castle!” Nora did a little dance on the spot and Ruby couldn’t help but laugh at it, everyone joining in after her. By the time the night was over everybody was pretty tired and after wishing her another happy birthday each, they went home, leaving Ruby to lay down in bed.

“Had a good birthday kiddo?” Tai was leaning on the doorframe, and Ruby sat up to look at him. A wry smile was on his face and she returned it.

“Yeah, it was brilliant. Thanks Dad.”

Tai walked over and kissed her on the forehead, “My pleasure kid, glad you enjoyed it. Now get some rest, alright? You’ve still got school in the morning.”

“Uh-huh. Night Dad.” Ruby smiled and squirmed under the covers to get comfortable as Tai left the room, giving his daughter one last loving glance, before flicking the light switch off and leaving her in the dark to sleep.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So, it’s been a while, I’m so sorry! I’ve had to go back to work full time, and that coupled with a really annoying case of writer’s block means it’s taken me a lot longer than I wanted it to. Thank you to everyone reading, giving kudos, bookmarking, subscribing, and commenting, it really does mean a lot that people actually read this thing!
> 
> Hopefully the next chapter won’t take as long as this one did!


	5. November Year 1

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> November has arrived and the bees are buzzing very late this Autumn...

“Well hello there stranger, fancy seeing you around these parts.”

“Hello Yang. I believe you saw me at lunch yesterday, as well as the day before,” Pyrrha smiled at Yang, mostly immune to the teasing.

Yang grinned back and they went onto talking about the lessons coming up that day. They headed into French together. As Yang passed by Blake’s desk, with the black-haired girl already sat behind it, she said “Morning Blake!” It was said in such a cheery tone, that Blake blinked for a moment before replying.

“Morning?” Her voice betrayed her confusion as Yang walked past.

Yang smiled at her and kept going with Pyrrha. They sat down together, and Yang put her head in her hands. _Ok,_ Yang thought to herself, _so that could have gone worse. But it also could have gone a lot better._ Sheelbowed Pyrrha to stop her from smirking. “Cut it out you.”

“I’m doing absolutely nothing Yang. Nothing at all.” Pyrrha’s grin was huge as she tried to hide her chuckles. 

“I can’t see your face, but I know it’s got that stupid smirk on.”

Pyrrha fought to get her face back into a normal look devoid of smirking, “No it doesn’t.”

Yang looked up and poked her below the ribs, “Yes it does, your poker face is terrible. Please never play poker for money unless you’re playing me.”

Pyrrha couldn’t hold her (almost) straight face any longer and started giggling and Yang started giggling as well.

The French class passed by without incident, as did the rest of the day. Yang sat with Pyrrha on their next free and Pyrrha couldn’t help asking “So, what was with you suddenly saying hi to Blake? Poor girl was just as confused as me!”

Yang rolled her eyes and gently punched Pyrrha in the shoulder, “I’ve got to start somewhere right? Might as well make her aware of my presence first.”

At that Pyrrha laughed, “Yang I don’t think there’s anyone in the school who isn’t aware of your presence! You’re one of the brightest, bubbliest girls around, plus you’re a state champion boxer.”

Yang rubbed the back of her neck awkwardly. Whilst Pyrrha was telling the truth, Yang still felt a little nervous about it. She lay back on the grass, staring up at the sky, running the thought through her head. It was a stretch the think Blake wasn’t aware of who she was, they shared a homeroom after all, had several classes together even though they didn’t really interact in them.

“Even if she does know who I am, I can’t just walk up to her and ask her out! She’ll say no because I’m just someone from school. I need to actually be friends with her first. And then ask her out on a date.”

Pyrrha sat up on her elbows to look at Yang, “You really do like her, don’t you?”

Yang stayed lying down looking up, “I guess? I dunno. I barely know her but from what I’ve seen, yeah, I think I do. I gotta get to know her first though. I’ll be cry if she turns out to be like Emerald though.”

Pyrrha grimaced, “She wasn’t exactly the nicest person, I’ll give you that.” 

Yang just laughed at Pyrrha’s response, “She was a bitch! She made certain that she ruined as much of Ruby’s school life as possible, without ever being caught or in trouble for it. Seriously if Blake turns out as catty as her, I’ll be upset.”

“Okay fine, I’ll admit she was a bitch.”

This got Yang to sit up and gasp, “Pyrrha Minerva Nikos, I cannot believe your language!”

“You just called her that!” Pyrrha pointed a finger at Yang who just smirked in response.

“Yes, but I’m a foul-mouthed boxer who’s rough around the edges, what would your mothers say if they heard you talk like that?”

Pyrrha rolled her eyes, “Considering what I overheard them calling Cinder they’d probably say Emerald deserved it.”

“Yeah well Cinder definitely deserves it. After what she did to do to you, she deserves a hell of a lot worse.” Pyrrha put a hand on Yang’s arm. She knew Yang still held a lot of anger and resentment at Cinder for the incident two years before, when she’d ‘tripped’ and stabbed Pyrrha’s ankle with a javelin. She’d been ahead of the redhead with one throw left, but it was millimetres difference. Cinder has thrown her personal best, but Pyrrha wasn’t even close to hers, so nearly everyone expected her to win and take the state championships for the third year in a row.

Cinder has been holding her javelin when she tripped over near Pyrrha and spiked the point of the javelin through the back of Pyrrha’s ankle. Pyrrha’s scream had been heard around the arena and when the paramedics had reached her she was as white as a sheet from the pain and blood loss. Cinder had been apologetic, but the officials checked the tapes immediately as one of them didn’t trust her. They saw Cinder deliberately trip over, then aim the javelin into Pyrrha’s ankle. She’d been stripped of her medals, disqualified from the championships, and banned from taking part for five years.

Apparently, she’d been lucky to avoid being arrested for it, but when Yang found out it took Ruby and Tai to hold her back from marching into the locker room and beating Cinder to a pulp. It had taken Pyrrha the rest of the summer to heal, and then until the beginning of the next spring before she was in good enough condition to compete again. Yang still hadn’t forgiven Cinder for it.

Shaking her head to chase the bad memories away, she asked Yang, “So what’s your plan then? If you have one.”

Yang sighed, “Hold a conversation first of all. I’ll just say hi to her until I feel like I could hold a conversation without looking like an idiot, then try and be friends I guess.” She shrugged, “See how it goes, if we get on and she’s nice, maybe try flirting a bit. Even though she’s probably straight, I mean something like 85% of women are straight so it’s a good chance she is, I think she’d be pretty cool to hang around with? She seems smart and that’s never done me wrong so far.” She inclined her head at her best friend, who smiled in return.

The two chatted for the rest of their free before heading to lunch, and then splitting up for the rest of the day. The next time Yang saw Blake she gave her a cheery wave as she passed and said “Hi!” 

This time, Blake responded with a much less confused “Hello.” And, emboldened by the fact she got a response, Yang continued to greet her every day for the rest of the week, and the next week too.

—————

The following Friday after Yang started greeting Blake, Ruby was packing up in the Chemistry room whilst everyone else filed out. She’d made a slight mistake earlier on in the book, and so had to redo several lines of notes to make sure they were right. By the time she’d finished nearly everyone (including Dr Ignis) had left. Weiss was, for some reason, being rather slow in packing her things away, and Jaune seemed to take the fact that nobody else was around as an opportunity to wander over.

“Well hello there snow angel.” Ruby immediately felt awkward hearing that, because it was clearly meant for Weiss. Nobody else at the school had hair as white as hers, and even if there was, Ruby’s hair was a dark brown, almost black colour with red tips, so hardly the colour of snow.

“What do you want Jaune?” Even though Ruby couldn’t see her as she was looking in her bag, Weiss’ voice was clipped and she sounded annoyed, so Ruby could imagine the look on her face. “If you’re going to ask me out again, just hurry up and get it over with so we can all move on with our lives.”

“Erm...” the cut to the chase clearly threw him off as he sounded unsure before going back to being confident, “Well I was wondering if you were doing anything this weekend? I may have managed to get my hands on two tickets to the premiere of the new Spruce Willis movie, it’s got great reviews.” Jaune leaned on their table, “I’m sure it’ll be an even...” Ruby could almost hear his brain tick as he tried to think, “...greater time when you’re with me.”

“Yes, I am busy. Even if I wasn’t, there’s nothing you could say that would convince me to go with you. So, no. I will not be going with you.” By this point Ruby had finished putting her stuff away and had straightened up. Weiss had left the table and was turned to face her and Jaune, who had his back to Ruby to look at Weiss. Her eyes met Ruby’s and Weiss sighed, then looked at Jaune. “Why do you keep asking me out? I’ve lost count of how many times you’ve asked, and I’ve said no every time. What makes you think it‘ll change?”

Jaune visibly deflated. “My mum says all you need is confidence and perseverance and the ladies will fall over for you.” His voice was quiet, and Weiss shook her head.

“Maybe for some, but that doesn’t work for me.” She pressed a couple of fingers to the bridge of her nose and squeezed before looking back at him. “Stop asking me out. For both our sakes. It can’t be pleasant for you being shot down constantly, and it’s certainly infuriating to me that you don’t pay attention to any of the rejections. I don’t find you attractive, I never will do, and my answer won’t change.”

Jaune sighed, then left the room, clearly dejected. Weiss turned back to Ruby, an expectant look on her face. “Yes?”

Ruby held her hands up, “I’m saying nothing. I heard nothing. I saw nothing. I wasn’t even here.”

Weiss raised an eyebrow.

“Fine. A little harsh, but I think you finally got the point across. That was what? Attempt number eight?” 

Weiss thought for a moment and nodded, “Something like that.”

Ruby continued, “He needed to hear it. Maybe not as bluntly as ‘I don’t find you attractive and never will do’, but if it works...” she shrugged as she picked her bag up and left the room, Weiss just in front of her. “See you in Maths later?” Weiss nodded in response and walked to the library for her free. Ruby meanwhile headed to the field to meet up with Yang.

When Ruby got there, she sat down on the grass to wait for her sister and pulled out her graphic novel before what just happened hit her. She and Weiss had had a conversation. A normal conversation. A grin broke across Ruby’s face. _Progress!_

“Hell-oo!” Yang’s sing song voice broke into Ruby’s thoughts as she dropped next to her, sitting down with her legs crossed.

“Hey sis.” Ruby put her book away and looked over to Yang.

“So how was Chemistry with the good Dr Boom?” Yang and Nora had taken to calling Dr Ignis ‘Dr Boom’ on account of the number of explosions that tended to take place in his class. Especially when Nora was in it.

“It was alright, no experiments today though, all written.”

“Booooring.”

Ruby thought about it, “There was one interesting thing that happened at the end though.”

“Ooooo gossip? What happened? Tell me all about it.” Yang rolled onto her stomach and looked at Ruby.

Ruby shrugged, “It’s not massively interesting, Jaune tried asking Weiss out again.”

Yang waved a hand dismissing it, “That idiot. He’ll never get anywhere with the Ice Queen. How bad was the let down?”

“Could have been much worse. At least nobody else was there to see it. Hopefully he doesn’t try again though.”

“Why not? Got a crush on the poor guy?” Yang gasped, “Or is it the Ice Queen herself?” Yang threw a hand over her forehead dramatically and rolled over, “Oh no whatever shall I do? An Ice Queen has frozen my poor sister’s heart!”

Ruby swatted at Yang as they both dissolved into fits of laughter. “It’s not like that Yang, and you know it! I just want to be friends. I think she’s probably pretty nice when you get to know her.”

Yang laughed, “You’re probably right, just depends how far down you gotta search. Still though, why do you hope it was the last time?”

Ruby sighed, “Weiss sounded really annoyed by it, and I actually felt sorry for her, she’s said no every time, but he keeps going. He should probably get the hint.”

Yang snorted, “Yeah but guys see movies where the main character just ignores every rejection, keeps asking, and then boom! The girl is suddenly in love with him despite how she felt originally, and that she turned him down twenty times. It just gives false expectations for guys that if they keep asking any girl will say yes and fall in love with him for never giving up. Life isn’t like the movies though, and that doesn’t happen. If anything, pop culture teaches guys that it’s okay to ignore a girl’s boundaries in favour of pursuing romance, even if it’s unwanted, and can potentially lead to stalking.”

Ruby looked blankly at Yang.

“What? I pay attention to culture and the societal impacts it has...” 

Ruby just laughed, “And they say blondes are dumb. My sister, proving them all wrong.” She reached out and gave Yang a high five.

—————

“How are your studies going?”

Weiss smiled, “They’re going well Winter, I am top in nearly all of my classes.”

“Nearly all? You’re slipping Weiss, be careful.” Winter’s voice betrayed none of the concern that Weiss knew was underneath.

“It’s one class. Maths. The person above me is highly intelligent in that area. They won’t be above me for long.” Weiss’ voice was full of confidence.

“Good. How about interpersonal relationships? How are you progressing in that area?”

“Things are...progressing. I have made at least one notable step forward in that area.” Weiss said, not being completely honest, but not exactly lying either. Whilst she loved and trusted Winter, she had never been good at discussing personal situations.

“That is...” Winter paused, “...encouraging to hear. I was concerned following what happened at the end of last year.”

Weiss winced, remember the events that had led her to transfer from the elite Atlas boarding school over the Summer.

“Are you at least being discreet?” Winter continued talking and Weiss suddenly realised that by not giving all the information, Winter had taken what she’d said a different way.

“I’m being...very discreet. I don’t believe anyone knows or could even guess. My partner agrees with me.” Weiss’ mind reeled, _Why am I agreeing with Winter and implying I’m in a relationship?_

“Good. I have to go now. I will speak with you again soon. Goodbye sister.” 

The call hung up and Weiss slumped against her bedroom wall, before responding mournfully, “Goodbye Winter. I miss you.”

—————

“And here you go, one latte, with soy milk, and a drop of caramel.” Yang beamed at the customer, who grunted in response, took his drink, and slumped off. Yang tried her hardest not to roll her eyes, it was nearly 2 in the afternoon, you shouldn’t be that grumpy at this time on a Saturday. Especially wearing a suit that looked that expensive.

“Yang?” 

Yang looked up at hearing her name and felt her heart miss a beat. Standing in front of her, wearing a loose grey beanie hat and an oversized grey scarf that covered her chest and neck, was Blake Belladonna.

“Hey Blake?” Yang sounded as confused as Blake.

“I didn’t know you work here.”

Yang laughed nervously, “Yeah I do, only on Saturdays though.”

“I always come in on Saturday afternoons though,” Blake seemed to murmur to herself, “Have you just started?” The question was louder than the murmur, and clearly directed at the blonde.

“Nah I’ve been here for like, a year? I never do afternoons though, so that’s probably why.” Yang decided to throw caution to the wind. “I’m actually finishing my shift in a couple of minutes. Would...would it be alright to grab a drink with you?” She waited with baited breath.

Blake blinked and considered it for a moment, one hand moving to hold the other elbow. She thought long enough that Yang started to backtrack “I mean you can always say no, don’t feel like you have to say yes!” She rubbed the back of her neck.

“No! It’s...it’s not that. I do want to.” Blake’s voice was quiet, but strong. Yang liked hearing it, especially outside the classrooms of school. “Yes. I’d like that.” A small smile crossed her face, and Yang matched it with a big beaming grin.

“Awesome! So, what can I get you to drink then?” She tried to hide the spring in her step but failed miserably.

“Can I get a jasmine tea please?”

“Sure! Go sit down and I’ll bring it over to you.” Blake started to pull her card out, “No, no, don’t worry about it, it’s on the house!” Yang grinned and Blake pouted a little, her amber eyes narrowing slightly.

“I _can_ pay for myself.” Her voice was a little harder.

Yang laughed, “Course you can, otherwise you’d have never come in! It’s my treat though, and besides, what’s the point of employee perks if I don’t use them every now and then?” Yang winked and continued, “If you insist, you can pay for the next one.”

Blake cocked a hip, a smirk starting to appear, “What makes you think there’ll be a next time?”

Yang flicked her ponytail, “Please, I’m irresistible.”

Blake chuckled, “Fine, you win this time. I’ll grab us some seats.”

Yang turned to make the drink and jumped when she saw one of her co-workers standing behind her. “Christ Neo you shat me up!”

The girl in question raised an eyebrow, she had half her hair pink, and the other half brown, the opposite to her eyes. She then grinned evilly, making a clawing motion with one hand and flicked both her eyebrows up and down.

“Quit it. It’s not like that.”

Neo rolled her eyes and gave her a doubtful look.

Yang pointed a finger at her as she finished making the two drinks, “Stop that. It’s just a drink.” She quickly nipped out back and grabbed her bag. “It’s just a drink. That’s all.” She repeated it to herself once more before hanging her apron up, undoing her hair from the ponytail, tossing it around to free it up, and heading back out. She grabbed the two drinks and slid into a seat opposite Blake.

“Hey, one jasmine tea for the lady.” Yang passed the drink over to Blake who took a quick sip and closed her eyes and smiled in satisfaction.

“This place does the best jasmine tea.”

Yang smiled warmly; this was different. Whilst they’d been saying hello for the last week and a bit, she’d noticed that even with the person Blake was next to she had always been quiet and seemed to have her guard up at all times. That reaction to the tea was something new, and Yang felt an urge to see more.

“We do our best.” She grinned at Blake and sipped her coffee. A silence fell over the two, not awkward, just comfortable. Yang was a little surprised with herself, normally she found silence oppressive and uncomfortable, but strangely with Blake the silence was...nice. 

They sat there, drinking their drinks and staring out of the window.

“So...” Despite the nice silence Yang wanted to actually speak with Blake and learn more about her, “How come you come in every Saturday? Our tea can’t be _that_ good.”

Blake chuckled and Yang could barely hold her smile back, “No, it is good, but it’s not the only reason. I normally go to the library for the day and come here for a break about 3.” She looked down at her tea and swirled it around thoughtfully for a moment. Yang watched the other girl carefully, she seemed uncertain and maybe a little reluctant. “I ended up leaving earlier than normal, there was a bunch of idiots making a scene.” Blake shrugged like it didn’t matter, but Yang could tell it did.

“Do you want to talk about it?”

Blake looked up at Yang, trying to gauge whether she was being nosey or genuinely cared. 

She seemed to come down on the side of Yang genuinely caring, the brilliant smile winning Blake round. “It’s okay, they weren’t doing anything exactly bad, just being really loud and obnoxious.”

Yang nodded, she could tell Blake was trying to avoid the subject, and even though she felt there was a bit more to it, she decided to leave it alone. Sort of. “I take it you’re a fan of books and reading then?”

“No actually, I hate reading.” Yang blinked in surprise, “I sit and meditate to train my body and mind to ascend to a higher plain. I’ve nearly reached the seventh stage of Aku Aku.”

Yang stared at her, that didn’t sound right at all, and why did she think she’d heard Aku Aku before? She felt a click in her brain as it made the connection. “You’ve nearly reached the seventh level of Crash Bandicoot? Come on, surely you’re better at video games than that.” She smirked at Blake, hoping she was right, and that the onyx haired girl had been sarcastic. She’d look like an idiot otherwise.

Blake smirked back and chuckled, “I’ve actually completed it, but Aku Aku sounded like a good name for a spiritual journey.” She smiled quickly at Yang, leaving Yang wanting to see it more.

“So, what do you spend your time in the library doing? Reading or studying?” Yang took another drink.

“Reading mostly, it’s usually quiet and I can listen to music.”

“What’s your favourite book?” Yang was curious, she hadn’t read in a while, but she used to enjoy reading to Ruby when they were kids before their mum died.

Blake considered it, “How many can I have?” Her eyes sparkled slightly, and Yang couldn’t help but smile at it.

“Top three. Of all time.”

Blake gasped, “This is like you’re asking me to choose my favourite child!” Yang just burst out laughing, and Blake joined in soon after. “I’d probably say ‘The Man with Two Souls’ is my all-time favourite, but I do have a soft spot for Beauty and the Beast too.”

“Beauty and the Beast is great!“ Yang smiled, there was a story she recognised, “Although I’ve only read the tamer, more Disneyfied one. I know the original is probably way more gruesome or something.”

Blake returned the smile, “It is a little more extreme than the Disney version, but not to the level of Cinderella or other fairy tales.“

“So why is ‘The Man with Two Souls’ your favourite?” Yang leaned forwards slightly, only to be slightly distracted by a small girl making kissing faces at the counter. Yang’s eyes narrowed. I’m going to need to get Neo for that.

“Yang?” Blake’s voice brought Yang back to the moment. It sounded slightly annoyed, but more worried than anything. “I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to bore you.”

“What? No, you didn’t bore me! No! Umm...” Yang tried desperately to think of something. 

She failed.

“Urgh.” She put her head on the table, hard enough for a faint thump to be heard. “I’m sorry. One of the people I work with is behind you doing what she can to distract me.” She looked up to see Blake looking confused and Neo...well Neo had two fingers to her mouth and was doing movements with her tongue, making it very obvious what she was implying. Yang pointed at her, then drew a finger across her throat and flicked her off, a very annoyed look on her face.

Blake raised an eyebrow, “Do I want to know?”

Yang sighed, and looked back to Blake, “Probably not. She’s a good laugh, but an absolute nightmare at times. Sorry.”

Blake sighed a little, “I was saying it’s my favourite book because the ending is ambiguous, it could be taken several different ways, and it’s left up to the reader to decide.”

Yang sat back and thought about that, “That’s...interesting. I’m not sure if I’d like it or not, I normally prefer things to have a definite ending, or at least an implied one. If there’s going to be a sequel though, then cliff-hanger endings are fine.“

Blake seemed a little pleased that Yang hadn’t dismissed her reason and actually wanted a discussion about it. They spoke for a little more, finding a few things in common, a love for certain shows, and similarities in musical tastes to name two.

Yang’s phone buzzed interrupting their talk, and she pulled it out to see a message from Ruby.

Ruby:

Hey, where are you? Are you okay? 

You’re not normally this late from work...

Yang swore, “Fuck, I forgot to message Ruby.” She quickly tapped a reply out.

Yang:

Sorry! Got caught talkin with friend from school. Wont be much longer.

“That’s probably my cue to head off.” Yang looked up as Blake got to her feet. “It’s been nice talking with you properly though.” She smiled at Yang who got to her feet as well.

“Could...could we do this again sometime? Just sit and talk?” Yang rubbed the back of her neck and avoided looking Blake in the eyes. 

Blake looked at Yang for a moment before she smiled slightly, “I’ll have to think about it, my time is very precious.”

Yang looked blankly for a moment, before she grinned, “Naturally, my time is as well, so I’ll have to do something that’ll make it worth your time.” She winked at Blake who laughed, a light musical sound that was lovely to Yang’s ears.

“I’m sure you’ll think of something.” Blake smiled at her and waved, before turning to head out the door.

Yang stood there grinning for a minute before Neo wandered over to her. She held her hand up in a thumbs up, before turning it down.

“Up. Definitely up.” Yang was beaming from ear to ear. _I had a conversation with her! And she isn’t an awful person!_ Neo mimed a phone and pointed at Blake. “Fuck I forgot to ask for her number!” Yang sprinted out after Blake whilst Neo doubled over in silent laughter.

Fortunately, Blake hadn’t gone too far, and ironically enough was looking at her phone. Yang skidded to a halt next to her, causing her to look up, “Yang?”

“Hey! I just realised that I’ve lost my phone number, could I have yours?” She grinned at Blake who stared at her, before rolling her eyes.

“Does that actually work?”

“You tell me, I’ve not tried it before.”

Blake laughed and held a hand out, Yang stared at it for a moment before scrabbling for her phone and handing it over.

Blake smiled at the background wallpaper on it, a cute picture of Ruby sat on Yang’s shoulders at the beach, the two of them charging forward towards the water. She put her digits in before handing it back with a wink. “Guess that line does work after all. See you on Monday.”

Yang chuckled and smiled goofily, “See ya Monday!” As much as she wanted to watch Blake walk away, it would definitely be more than a little creepy, so she headed back to the cafe. Neo was stood behind the till, grinning at her and Yang just shook her head at her before grabbing her helmet from the locker room.

She chucked on her leather jacket and then her helmet, before jumping on her bike, the weekend training course she’d done last month having given her a license, and drove home, making sure to keep to the speed limit. It wouldn’t do her any good to frighten Ruby even more by crashing on her way back.

Once she’d gotten home, after apologising profusely to Ruby for worrying her, she made a note in her phone of Blake’s favourite book. It had been a while since she’d read for fun, but if it gave them an excuse to talk more then she’d give it another go. Plus, she remembered that she’d enjoyed reading to Ruby when they were younger, so hopefully she still did now she was older. She’d head to the library next weekend and see if it was available, plus if she took Ruby along, she might find some graphic novels she’d enjoy, win win.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So we finally have Blake and Yang interacting! I also wanted to put Neo in there as one of the people that Yang works with for a bit of bouncing off each other, so she will show up a bit more in the future.
> 
> Thank you to everyone who reads these chapters, subscribes, bookmarks, comments, any of that stuff. It seriously means a lot :)


	6. December Year 1 Part 1

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> December rolls around and Yang decides to check out the book that Blake said was one of her favourites in the last chapter.

It was the first weekend of December when Yang decided to head to the library and pick up ‘The Man with Two Souls’. “Hey Ruby, fancy a trip to the library?”

Ruby looked at Yang like her hair had fallen out. “The library? You? On a Sunday? Who are you and what have you done with my sister?”

Yang laughed, “Still me Rubes, just I got a book recommendation from someone, figured I’d give it a go you know?”

Ruby narrowed her eyes, “Who from? You’ve avoided reading since you turned into a teenager...oh my god is it one of _those_ books? You know the ones I mean....” She winked at her sister and started giggling.

“No!” Yang practically shouted at her, “God I am not having this conversation with you....No, I mean...I hope it’s not...that would be an awkward conversation afterwards...”

“Alright, alright.” Ruby kept giggling, “I’ll tag along, they might have some good graphic novels I haven’t read yet.”

The two of them climbed into Tai’s truck and drove down to the library pulling into a parking space. They got out and headed inside, Ruby dashing off to the graphic novel section, trying (and failing) to hide her excited squeal when she saw there were two bookcases full.

Yang, meanwhile, had stopped in the entrance to look around, she hadn’t been to the library since she was a little kid and they’d gone with school. Despite the amount she’d grown in the ten years since she’d last been in the building it still towered over her, the ceiling reaching all the way to the roof, a large balcony running around the inside of the walls with enough space for tables and chairs. The ceiling was vaulted, with a massive domed glass window at the centre meaning enough natural light came in that the dangling lights weren’t really needed outside of Winter.

The outside of the lower floor was lined with bookshelves, and signs hung from the underside of the balcony letting readers know what section they were in. Next to the door was a sign advertising the new version of library cards that could be started on your phone, which Yang made a mental note of for later. The rest of the floor was taken up with tables and chairs, as well as a large circular desk that had several computers on, as well as a fairly bored looking guy with his feet up playing on his phone. Yang raised an eyebrow at the blatancy of it, before approaching.

“Hi, could you help me out please?” She stood in front of the desk, and when there was no response, she repeated herself. 

Still no reply.

“Hello-ooo?” She waved a hand towards his face, which finally got his attention.

“Yeah?” He barely looked up and his voice matched the ‘I really don’t care’ attitude he was throwing out.

Yang resisted the urge to groan out loud, “I’m looking for a book.”

“Obviously, that’s why you’re in a library.” The sneer was unexpected and unwelcome.

Yang smiled sweetly, “My god I never would have guessed I was in a library? Can you believe how many books there are here?” Her voice went up at least an octave, with an additional twang to it, and she put a hand to her chest in pretend shock.

The guy blinked and narrowed his eyes, “Fuck me, dumb blondes are annoying. Are you like, daft in the head or something?”

Yang narrowed her eyes and leaned forward slapping her palm on the desk, and the guy nearly fell backwards off his chair in shock at the sudden change in personality, never mind that the shadows had made her eyes look a touch more red than lilac. “No, but I’m quickly running out of patience. You work here, so do your damn job and point out to me where the fantasy section is.” Her voice lowered and her glare intensified, “Without any smartass comments or insults.”

He nodded quickly and pointed to the left side of the room about two thirds of the way to the back.

“Thank you.” Yang turned and walked away, feeling decidedly more pissed off than she had been before. “Dumb blonde my ass.” She muttered to herself finding the fantasy section. She’d done a quick google search for the book the night before and looked through the rows finding the section for D. “Diggs...Diggs...ah! The Man with Two Souls by Oscar Diggs.” She pulled the copy out and looked it over. It was a fairly decent sized book, the cover showing a green castle with a long road winding up to it. Flipping it over she read the blurb quickly and then headed off to find Ruby. 

When she reached Ruby, she had to stop for a minute and just smile at her sister. She was sat down at a table, resting both arms on the surface with three stacks of graphic novels around her and one book open in front of her, a concentrated grin on her face as she read through and clearly enjoyed every second of it. A flick of her hair was dangling in front of her eyes and she shifted it every now and again but it was just too short to stay behind her ear for long. Yang knew that whilst Ruby’s panic attacks were slowly getting less frequent, they were also getting worse, and it was taking longer for her to calm down when they did happen. Seeing her sat there just filled Yang’s heart with joy that Ruby was happy right now, and felt even more grateful to Blake for mentioning the book, as otherwise she didn’t think she’d have ever taken Ruby to the library and so she’d have missed out on this sight.

She plopped down in the seat opposite Ruby, who looked up at the noise. “Have you seen how many books they’ve got here? This was just from the first shelf, never mind the second! It’s going to take ages to read through them all.” Whilst some people might have been daunted from the task of that much reading, Ruby relished it. Graphic novels were always a favourite of hers, something that kept her grounded in her childhood, even though her maths and engineering had got her two years ahead at school, and almost got her into university even sooner (although she would have declined university, she knew she wasn’t confident or comfortable enough to go that soon).

Yang smiled warmly back, the corners of her mouth tilting up, “So I see, come on then, let’s get them out so you can read them back at home.” Ruby’s face lit up as Yang pulled her phone out, reading the leaflet placed on the desk advertising the same thing as the sign near the door. She quickly signed up for a library card but noticed one of the terms was that you could take a maximum of 12 books out at a time. “How many books have you got there?”

“Erm...” Ruby did a quick count, “22! Oh, wow that’s more than I thought, good thing we came in the truck huh?” Yang chuckled to herself and then signed Ruby up for a card as well.

“Come on Rubes, let’s go.” They headed over to the checkout machine and checked the books out, half on her account, half on Ruby’s. She chuckled to herself at Ruby trying to manage the full pile of graphic novels by herself, before grabbing well over half and taking them easily herself. Ruby pouted a little at the ease Yang carried the majority but didn’t complain.

When they reached home, Yang dropped onto the sofa and threw her legs up on the arm, deciding to get right into reading. Sooner she finished, the sooner she could talk with Blake about it.

—————————————

Yang had just finished her pull-ups and wiped the sweat from her eyes with her towel, before taking a big drink of water. She was almost finished with her gym session by that point when she heard a cry for help from the bench rack. A blonde guy was straining underneath a barbell with quite a few weights on. 

A barbell that was slowly creeping closer to his chest and neck. 

Yang couldn’t see anyone around to spot him and help out, so quickly walked over and grabbed the bar, giving the guy just enough help to put it back safely. As he did, she recognised him from school.

“Oh man, thanks Yang!” The guy sat up, shaking his head out, “Sorry for that, guess I tried too hard huh?”

Yang shook her head in disbelief, “Shouldn’t you have someone spotting you if you’re gonna do bench presses like that Sun?”

Sun laughed, “Yeah, Nep was supposed to be helping out but he’s late, so I got started without him.”

As if summoned Neptune came strutting over, towel around his neck and a skin-tight top. “Well hel-lo you two.”

Yang rolled her eyes, whilst it wasn’t that she didn’t find guys attractive, she definitely wasn’t into Neptune, especially with how into himself he was. “Nep you idiot where’ve you been? I nearly _DIED_ here!” Sun reach over and punched his best friend on the arm.

“What? I told you when I’d be here! Why would you get started without me?”

Yang rolled her eyes, whilst the blue and yellow pair had each other’s back, the two of them could bicker like an old married couple, and she was too tired to deal with that this afternoon. “I’ll see you guys in Maths tomorrow.”

“Wait, Yang!” She’s started walking off when Sun caught up with her, so she turned to face him. “Any chance you could help out and spot me again? Please?”

“I thought that’s why Neptune was here...”

“Pfft he’s only here to try and stay slim with cardio and tiny weights, he doesn’t care about muscles, that’s what I’m here for!” He grinned and pulled a pose. “Seriously though, I doubt he’d be able to help much with what I’m benching...but I dunno, maybe you wouldn’t be able to either?” He grinned at her.

Yang narrowed her eyes and rolled up the non-existent sleeves of her tank top, “Careful Sun, you do _not_ want to tangle with guns like these.”

Sun just looked at his nails and turned back to the bench, long monkey tail swishing behind him, Yang’s eyes glaring daggers into his back.

_Fine. He wants a challenge; he gets a challenge._

Sun sat back down on the bench after taking a weight off each end. “I won’t need you to help with this one Yang, although I bet you couldn’t even lift this yourself.” He lay back down and lifted his hands to the bar, starting his set.

Yang stormed over and waited, spotting him until he ended his set. She grinned and got onto the bench as soon as he’d wiped it down. “Not bad. Not bad. My turn though.”

Even though she’d already done her bench press for the afternoon (at a higher weight) she was never one to turn down a challenge, completing her set of the same weight as Sun just as quickly. They swapped again, and then once more. On Sun’s third set his arms started to wobble slightly and Yang, sensing weakness, started taunting him.

“Oh dear, is weak little Sun starting to struggle?”

He glared at her and, with quite a bit of effort, finished his set. Halfway through Yang’s third set, she started to feel just how tired her arms were, and was regretting her taunting of Sun earlier, especially when he noticed.

“Surely the great boxer Yang Xiao Long isn’t getting tired already? Come on!” Gritting her teeth at Sun’s taunt she nearly screamed as she made the last rep before staying lying down, panting heavily.

“Well I came here for one gun show and got two. And I am _not_ complaining.” Yang couldn’t see his face, but could guess what it looked like, so tried to lift her arm to flick Neptune off but couldn’t, ending up with a feeble jerk of her arm and a groan.

Sun laughed and flicked Neptune off to his best friend’s horror. “That what you were trying to do?”

Yang nodded, and finally forced herself to sit up, forcing her arms to lift the water bottle up and take a drink. After breathing heavily for a few moments, she looked up at Sun. “Still did better than you.”

He gasped, “Oh really? Cos you started to struggle sooner than I did if I remember.”

“It was the same rep.” Neptune nipped in before being shushed quickly by Sun.

“Yeah...but I’d already done my bench press today. End of workout...vs start.” She managed to point at herself and then flick her fingers at Sun at the end to emphasise it.

“Ha! Fine then, next time you’re going gym message me, and I’ll come by, make it a fair contest.” Sun grinned at her and Yang returned it, staggering up past them and heading to the treadmills to cool down. _Maybe that Sun guy is alright._

—————————

“What? How is that ambiguous?”

Yang had finally finished reading The Man with Two Souls, taking nearly two weeks to do it, reading in most of her free time. _Okay, I need to talk to Blake about this tomorrow. I have_ opinions _._

The next morning during homeroom, when they were given permission to talk, Yang went to the front of the class, grabbed a spare chair from someone’s desk and spun it round in front of Blake’s, before sitting down. “Okay, how is the ending to this ambiguous? The dark soul clearly wins out.” She dropped the library book on Blake’s desk.

Blake jumped slightly and looked at the book before looking at Yang, a slightly fearful look in her eyes vanishing as quickly as Yang noticed it, replaced by a warmth that made Yang doubt she’d seen anything else. “Did he? I’m not sure I agree with that.”

Yang gaped at her, “Are you serious? It’s so obvious that he did though! Like the person that the dark soul was attracted to moved in with them, _and_ he even quit the job the light soul liked! How does that not scream the dark soul won out?” Yang‘s arms were casting about as she made her points.

Blake just smiled in return, “Yes, but have you considered that the lighter soul and the darker soul were slowly moving towards each other throughout the book from their original points, and thus ended up reaching a compromise between them. The light soul did have more control of the body and personality towards the end, even with the moves that he made.”

Yang sputtered, “Yes, that’s true...he did...but surely if he’d had more control then he’d have at least kept the job he enjoyed rather than quitting it to suit the darker soul!”

Blake smile grew to reach her eyes, clearly enjoying Yang being so into it. The bell rang and Blake stood, picking her bag up. “Or maybe the whole story was just an allegory about how rather than striving to be purely good at the expense of our wants and desires, or purely bad at the expense of our morality, we should allow ourselves an indulgence every now and then to help keep ourselves sane and moving forward, whilst not allowing the indulgences to rule and control our lives.” She walked out of class after that, leaving Yang stunned for a second.

Yang was determined to talk to Blake more about the book, but didn’t want to come across as weird, so she waited until they had Chemistry together later that day, right before lunch. Unfortunately, they had to do an experiment, and whilst Yang would normally love them, doing an experiment meant that there wasn’t much time to talk, especially if you wanted to keep your eyebrows. Just as the class was ending and people were getting their bags Yang walked over to Blake. “Hey, Blake!” The onyx haired girl jumped, but turned to Yang, who smiled gently despite feeling guilty for making her jump, “Shit, I’m sorry. Didn’t mean to make you jump.”

“It’s alright.” Blake’s smile was genuine, and she seemed to mean it, so Yang took it at face value.

“I don’t want to bombard you about this book, but I just don’t get how you find it ambiguous...” Yang rubbed the back of her neck sheepishly.

Blake laughed and Yang’s thoughts stopped. _Oh. Oh wow. That laugh. That is heavenly. I want to hear that again._

“Yang?” _Oh God I spaced out._

“Yes! Yes, I’m still here. Sorry.” Yang chuckled nervously, feeling even more guilty.

“It’s fine, I don’t want to bore you.” Blake looked a little nervous herself.

“No! You weren’t! You definitely weren’t, sorry, I just got distracted for a minute there.”

“You sure?” 

“Absolutely. Is it alright if we sit together at lunch? That way you can explain how the ending is ambiguous to this poor philistine and if I get distracted you can throw food at me. Or get Nora to, that girl is always up for a good fight...it’s a little worrying to be honest.” Yang smiled at Blake and hoped that she’d accept.

“Umm...would it be okay if my friends sat with us? Or you came to sit with us?” Blake was holding her elbow in a way that reminded Yang of Ruby when she was anxious.

“Whichever you’d rather, I’m fine either way.” Yang decided to throw caution to the wind and winked at Blake, who just laughed. Another thought occurred to Yang, “But I do need to warn you, the rest of my friends will probably sit with me by no matter which way round it is, just giving you some advance warning.” Yang tried to smile comfortingly even though she was a little worried inside. Whilst Blake seemed pretty calm and confident, there had been a few little clues that she recognised because of Ruby that made her a little worried for Blake. Nora could be...well...over the top sometimes. 

Blake smiled back at Yang, “I figured as much. We’d better get one of the big tables then, else there won’t be room for everyone.”

Yang’s grin was so wide it lit up her face. They both headed off to the cafeteria, making a bit of small talk about the chemistry lesson. Sitting down opposite each other they started to eat, and Sun and Neptune dropped in next to Blake, saying hi to Yang. 

“You going gym tonight Yang?”

Yang finished her mouthful first and swallowed before replying to Sun, “Nah, rest day outside of boxing and gym, but I’ll go tomorrow afternoon if you want to get whupped again.” She grinned cockily and took a bite of her chicken with a smug grin on her face.

Blake rolled her eyes, “I thought we were here to talk about books, not measure each other’s dicks”

“Which is a contest I’d still win.” Yang continued to grin smugly, although a laugh was heard as Pyrrha slid in next to her.

“I’m fairly certain that if you had an extra...appendage that you would probably have let it slip by now.”

“That’s what she said!” Nora dropped into the seat on Yang’s other side. Yang and Blake gave each other a quick glance at that, knowing the joke didn’t really work, but Nora carried on regardless. “Sooo, how come we’re sitting over here today? I’m glad I went to get Ren and Pyrrha else I’d have been _soooo_ confused as to what was happening, but Pyrrha said that you were probably just trying to make more friends, which makes perfect sense to me, as you can never have enough friends.”

She opened her mouth to continue but Ren got there first, “Nora? Breathe. You’re doing it again.”

Nora took a deep breath and smiled at him, “Thanks Ren!”

“Erm...this...is quite a lot more people than usual?” Ilia was holding her tray and looking at everyone with a bit of surprise.

“Yeah! Yang decided to sit with us, and then her friends sat with her, but they seem pretty cool, so don’t sweat it Ils!” Sun waved at her to sit down and she did, a little tentatively, but she still sat.

Yang had a quick look around and realised they were missing a few people, Jaune was probably stuck somewhere, and the rabbit girl wasn’t with Blake, something that Pyrrha seemed to have noticed as well.

“Isn’t there normally a few others in your group?” She directed the question mostly at Blake, but it was Sun who answered.

“Yeah, there’s usually Velvs too, but she doesn’t like being in really large groups so she’s probably sticking with Coco and that lot, they’ve gotten pretty close in the last few months.” He was eating whilst he talked, making it a little muffled, but everyone could still understand him. Just.

The rest of them started talking about various things, Jaune turning up a few minutes later apologising, which Nora threatened to fine him for and Pyrrha said was perfectly fine.

By the end of lunch, Blake and Yang had barely managed to talk about the book at all, something that Yang seemed visibly annoyed at, even if she was responding to the rest of the conversation.

As the bell went for the end of lunch, everyone packed up and headed to their various classes, with Blake and Yang headed for History. By the end of it Yang had nearly dropped her head into the desk enough times to leave a dent. She’d given up on listening to Oobleck within a month and was amazed by anyone who could do it and still get notes written. At the end of it Yang could barely think straight, so got up; gathered her stuff, and headed for Maths.

She wasn’t like Ruby, a whizz kid at Maths, so she had to pay attention. The teacher was also Professor Goodwitch who was a lot more attentive than Oobleck. She unzipped her pencil case and pulled a couple of pencils out ready for the lesson and noticed that a folded slip of paper had fallen out as well. She did a quick look around and couldn’t see anyone who was looking at her or would have thrown it, so she unfolded it and found eleven numbers written in neat, cursive handwriting. _That’s...a phone number...where did that come from? Who’s is it?_

“Miss Xiao Long? I hope we’re not disturbing you?” Professor Goodwitch’s voice cut through Yang’s thoughts and she almost panicked.

“No Professor. Sorry about that, was just double checking a formula.” She smiled at the blonde teacher who narrowed her eyes before returning to the board.

_Ok, finish Maths first, figure out mystery number later._

By the time Yang finished Maths and had got home, the mystery number was buzzing round her head and driving her mad. She dropped her bag by the door with her shoes, gave Zwei a scratch between the ears, leaving Ruby to give him the love he knew he deserved (and got), and headed to her bedroom. She shut the door behind her and got on the bed, lying on her back and staring at the note before she came to a decision about what she’d do next.

_Fuck it. What’s the worst that can happen?_

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Okay, so it’s been a while! Sorry about the slowing of updates, life is hitting pretty hard at the minute with shit going on, so writing is slowing quite a bit, but I’ll do what I can to get these chapters out! 
> 
> December in the fic is only halfway done, there’s still some Whiterose to come, as well as a bit more Bumbleby and the gang. But I wanted to drop an update now, as it’s about halfway through I think...unless the next half ends up being shorter, but we’ll see about that.
> 
> Anyway, thanks to everyone as always for reading, commenting, bookmarking, or subscribing, it really does mean a lot!


	7. December Year 1 Part 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Christmas break approaches...

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> There’s a fair bit of texting in this chapter, but it won’t take up the majority of it, and it does have some relevance to the overall plot (i.e. foreshadowing something everyone knows from canon) and/or it’s fluff or setting things up.
> 
> Also I am SO sorry it's taken three months for this! I had some major writer's block with this chapter and even now it doesn't feel quite right to me, so I may go back and edit it further.

“No.”

“Please Weiss? I promise it’ll only be for schoolwork...and maybe saying good morning and good night?” The second bit of Ruby’s sentence was said quieter but still loud enough for Weiss to hear.

Weiss rolled her eyes and looked at Ruby, “Ruby, we see each other every day at school, if we need to talk about a project then we can do it at school.”

Ruby pouted, “But we’re still supposed to be trying to get to know each other better! Surely swapping numbers will help with that.”

Weiss narrowed her eyes. _She does have a point; we did agree on that..._ “Fine.” Ruby’s face lit up, “However!” Weiss raised a finger and smirked, and Ruby’s wide smile dropped a little bit, “You are not allowed to just bombard me with texts at all times of the day and night.”

“Deal!”

Ruby’s grin was massive and as she handed her scroll over for Weiss to type the number in Weiss narrowed her eyes. “You’re absolutely going to bombard me with texts constantly aren’t you?”

“No!” Ruby looked a little hurt and glanced away, whispering the next word, “...maybe.”

“I can’t believe I’ve done this.” Weiss put her head in one hand and sighed. “Can you at least say that if I tell you ‘I’m busy please don’t message me’ that you won’t?”

“Ok, I can agree with that.”

“Good.”

Weiss gathered her things, quickly typed a message out and sent it before standing up. Ruby’s scroll vibrated in her pocket and she pulled it out, reading the text.

XXX-XXXX-0515: I’m always busy, please don’t message me.

“Hey!” Ruby’s outraged cry from behind made Weiss smirk, and Ruby hurriedly packed her bag as the bell rang before chasing after Weiss.

—————————

Blake: I still can’t believe you have a dog.

Yang: whats wrong with dogs? hes just the cutest!!

Blake: -_-‘ 

Blake: He’s a dog. None of them are cute.

Yang laughed and called for Zwei who came trotting up happily, she leant down and grabbed him pulling him up to sit on her lap. She switched her camera to front facing to take a photo. “Selfie time Zwei!” Zwei had learnt a long time ago about what to do when he heard the call of ‘selfie’ so he opened his mouth and let his tongue loll out of his mouth slightly with his ears perked up. Yang put her chin between his ears and stuck her tongue out a little before taking a few selfies and deciding on the right one to send to Blake.

Yang: i cant believe u said that. not sure we can b friends if ur gonna insult my fur baby like that :P

Yang sent a photo.

Blake: ...ok that is pretty cute. Even if he’s a dog...but I still stand by my earlier point. Dogs. Suck.

Yang: look just bcos ur a catgirl doesnt mean dogs suck

Blake: Catgirl? What do you mean by that?

Yang: well u clearly prefer cats to dogs so ur a catgirl just like im a dog girl

Blake: You know there‘s a specific word for a female dog, right?

Yang: ouch Belladonna now thats just catty

Blake: ;)

Yang: lol

Yang: what u up 2?

Blake: Reading a new book I got earlier

Yang: why didnt u stop by the shop? id have given u a discount again haha

Blake: This was bought, not borrowed, it’s my favourite author so I always buy their books as I know I’ll really like them.

Yang: fair enough, got any more reccommendations for me? i enjoyed the last one

Blake didn’t reply for a few minutes, which ended up being perfect for Yang as she could grab a drink from the kitchen before going upstairs and lying on her bed, nodding her head in time to the music playing quietly in the background through her earphones.

Blake: Not sure, especially seeing as how you struggled to get the nuances of the last book I recommended...but I may have an idea.

Blake sent a photo.

Blake: I think this is a good place to start.

Yang opened the photo and read the cover before bursting into laughter.

Yang: how dare you

Yang: im not sure id enjoy ‘100 Reasons Why Cats are Better than Dogs’

Yang: also is that even a real book? cos thats just harsh :L

Blake: It’s a series. There’re several books on the same subject. Couldn’t find any the other way though, wonder why...

Yang: ok 1st off

Yang: harsh

Yang: 2nd im making it my mission 2 convince u dogs r good

Blake: That will take a very long time and you will not be successful. Cats are just better than dogs. It’s a fact. Cats were worshipped as Gods by the Ancient Egyptians as well.

Yang: well have 2 agree 2 disagree there Blakey

Blake: No. Just no.

Yang: ??

Blake: Do not call me Blakey.

Yang: y not? Its cute!

Blake: Call me Blakey again and I won’t reply until tomorrow.

Yang: u wouldnt do that 2 me Blakey

Yang: :P

After five minutes and Blake still hadn’t replied, Yang swore under her breath. She’d pushed it a little too far. They’d only been texting for a few days since she’d found the mystery number in her pencil case, and she remembered how they’d started it off.

When Yang had first looked at the number, she’d texted it saying, ‘New phone who dis?’

Blake had replied pretty much immediately saying ‘Please tell me your sense of humour over messages isn’t worse than in person.’

That had confused Yang a little, as it meant it had to be someone she knew, but nearly everyone she knew had her number already. It did leave one person though, and she’d sent a single word back, ‘Blake?’ Blake had smirked to herself, happy that Yang had worked it out so quickly, but a little sad she couldn’t toy with her, ‘10 points to the girl with blonde hair’ had been her response, and they’d continued texting from there.

Yang: Blake?

Yang: aw fuck u were serious...

Yang: fine then ill send u a bunch of txts as payback

Yang: whats ur fave food

Yang: do u actually have a cat or r u just a cat simp

Yang: r u allergic 2 dogs

Yang: what is opposite of always?

Yang: r u allergic 2 cats

Yang: y do u always wear ur bow? Is it the same one or do u have diff ones

Yang: what is opposite of coming?

Yang: can I copy ur hmwk 4 french pls i have no idea what to do

Yang: ok im googling weird shit to ask now

Yang: if you could have a million lien but a camera crew followed u everywhere 4 a year would u do it?

Yang: what is 1+1?

Yang: what would u rather fight? 1 horse sized duck or 100 duck sized horses?

Yang: is cereal soup?

Yang: what is opposite of take?

Yang: what is ur greatest achievement and y is it meeting me?

Yang: what is the 21st letter?

Yang: do u play any musical instruments?

Yang: what is opposite of down?

Yang: what is ur go 2 vid to make u smile?

Yang yawned, it might not have been that late, but she’d been up since four that morning for work, so decided to get an early night to try and recover some of the sleep she’d lost.

Yang: ok im tired now, so ill talk 2 u 2moro hopefully?

Yang: night Blake

Putting her scroll into charge, she got ready for bed and slid under the covers, checking her scroll one last time. There hadn’t been any new messages, so she closed her eyes and put her scroll back down, drifting off to sleep.

The next morning Yang stretched her arms out, enjoying the pull from her muscles. She flipped her scroll on and smiled at the fact that Blake had replied, and from the looks of it, replied to all the messages she’d sent the night before.

Blake: Morning Yang

Blake: ...Okay so you weren’t joking about blowing my scroll up with messages, were you?

Blake: Here goes...

Blake: Tuna casserole, yes, no, never, no, it’s called fashion you could learn something about it, I have different ones, leaving, no but I’ll help you with it if you ask very nicely, not a chance, the number two, 100 duck sized horses, no, provide, finishing seven books in a single afternoon, the letter u, yes, happy, and it’s a video of kittens playing with some balls of wool. I’ll send you the link.

Blake: https://youtu.be/dQw4w9WgXcQ

Yang read through the answers, a little annoyed Blake hadn’t fallen for the hidden questions, but she seemed too smart for it anyway. She clicked on the link to watch the video and a familiar tune came to her ears and she groaned, leaning her head back into the pillow.

Yang: ...

Yang: ok

Yang: u got me there

Blake: Nice try with hiding the questions but better luck next time.

Blake: Here’s the actual link 

Blake: https://youtu.be/5lxOJsJKTlE

Yang: if uve done it again ill laugh

Half expecting the same tune to come out Yang closed her eyes and pressed the link. When she didn’t hear any recognisable tune, she cracked one eye open.

Yang: alright so thats just adorable

Her view was met with individual cats one by one playing with little balls of wool and yarn, batting them here and there. It melted her heart, and she would be the first to admit she was a softy. Even if she did still hold the record for fastest knockout in a school boxing competition, she still loved anything cute and cuddly.

Seeing the time on the top of her scroll distracted her when she switched back to the chat with Blake. “Fuck.”

Yang: wait..how long does it take u 2 get 2 school?

Blake: Ilia or Sun usually pick me up, and they’ll be here in about ten minutes, so I’m good to go.

Blake: Why? Did you forget it was Monday already?

Yang: no

Blake: Why don’t I believe you?

Yang: maybe

Blake: And how long until you have to leave to get there on time?

Yang: not very long

Blake: How long?

Yang: 5 mins?

Yang: ill b fine

Blake: Sure. Clock’s ticking Yang, I’ll see you in homeroom.

Blake: If you make it on time ;)

“Oh, I am so making it on time now, just to wipe that smug smirk off your face Belladonna!” Yang threw herself at her wardrobe, grabbed the first pair of jeans and top she could see, thanked Past Yang for having a shower yesterday afternoon, as well as her Dad’s long standing tradition of making her and Ruby get their bags ready the night before, and jumped down the stairs, narrowly avoiding Ruby running up them.

“You’re going to make us be so late!”

“Quiet you!” Yang skidded into the kitchen, a plate of toast on the breakfast bar waiting for her, alongside a steaming mug of coffee. Tai leaned against the opposite counter, hiding a smirk behind his own mug. “Not a” Yang bit down and chewed, “word.”

“I’m saying nothing.”

Yang rolled her eyes, then swallowed her toast and downed her coffee. She slipped her feet into her shoes and called back up to Ruby, “Come on Rubes! I’m waiting here!”

Ruby shot round the corner, saw the empty plate and groaned, “Daaaaaad! I asked you not to help her!”

“Hey, I’m just keeping things fair here.” Tai raised his hands in the air, empty coffee mug dangling from a finger.

Ruby let out another groan, but put her boots on and grabbed her hoody, waving bye to Tai as she headed out the door, Yang right on her heels. Yang ran her fingers through her hair as they walked, slowly working the tangles and knots out.

They reached their homeroom in time, admittedly only just, but with enough time for Yang to whisper, “Told you so,” as she walked past Blake’s seat, taking the soft huff she heard in response as a sound of victory.

—————————

The last week of school was remarkably laid back, the lessons taking things much more relaxed. That was of course, barring a large collection of essays from various teachers, as well as several pages worth of problems from Maths to be done over the break. None of the Maths problems fazed Ruby in the slightest, but the English essay was proving quite tricky to even get started on, so she went over to knock on Yang’s door, her solved Maths problems in hand and ready to trade.

Her elder sister opened the door, a pencil stuck behind one ear, and her mane of hair messed up and frazzled. “Help. Please. Algebra is going to kill me.” Her voice was completely deadpan, and her lilac eyes were almost glazed over.

Ruby chuckled and held up her opening page of the English essay, “Only if you help with this.”

Yang nodded and stepped aside, letting Ruby into her room, and they sat on Yang’s double bed together. Yang slid her laptop over to Ruby, who passed her algebra over, and the pair were mostly silent as they flicked through the other’s work. Yang muttering to herself occasionally, usually something along the lines of “I did that! Oh wait, I forgot to move x.” Ruby meanwhile was reading through the start of Yang’s essay, figuring out the sort of thing their English teacher was looking for so she could work on her essay for herself. 

Later that evening, once the trade had been completed, Ruby had returned to her own computer to work on it. Her head was now, if not brimming with ideas, at least more cooperative than before, and she managed to make decent progress on it. Within a few days of the break starting they’d both managed to finish all the work for their break, leaving Yang to enjoy exorbitant lie ins, most mornings not rising before 1 or 2pm. 

Ruby meanwhile managed to combat her feelings of needing to work and study to at least allow her _some_ relaxation time, even if it usually carried some guilt afterwards that she’d wasted an entire day playing video games when she could have been catching up on the years she’d missed or getting ahead. She managed to fend it off by repeating the mantra that had been taught several months before back in the Summer. “I deserve to relax. I deserve to enjoy my time.” If that didn’t work, then she fell onto her backup, “I am recharging my energy so I can study properly. I won’t be able to study properly if I have no energy.” It never took the guilt away completely, but it managed to at least minimise it to a manageable level.

One form of relaxation that never seemed to trigger Ruby’s guilt was messaging Weiss, even though it was mostly restricted to the late evening before she slept. Weiss had returned to Atlas for the Christmas break, and the time difference coupled with Weiss strict time schedule meant that there wasn’t much free time to message, although on the day before Christmas Eve itself there seemed to be more free time than usual for the Atlesian.

Ruby: So what’s your Christmas going to be like?

Ruby was getting much better at texting “like an actual human”, as during the first few messages Weiss had informed her that unless she turned on autocorrect and wrote like a normal person she’d never reply again. Ruby’s autocorrect had been turned on and she had never looked back on her text speech. _Thank the Brothers for that._

Several hundred miles away in her own bedroom, Weiss lay back on her bed, legs dangling over the end, bare feet tingling from the cool breeze that came in through the open window. So far, she’d been back in Schnee Manor for almost a week now, Geoffrey having picked her up immediately after school on the final day, drove her to the airport, and she’d flown back to Atlas. She’d shivered as she got off the plane, her body having acclimatised itself to the more temperate climate of Vale, although seeing the family butler Klein waiting for her had warmed her up rather quickly, especially once he held his arms out, letting her fall into them and ignore decorum for once.

In comparison, her private reception by her family had been as frosty as the weather, although the public one at one of the numerous Christmas parties and fundraisers she’d been forced to attend with Father and Whitley was more generous, if a complete fabrication.

Thinking ahead to the day itself to formulate a response, Weiss expected it to follow a similar pattern to previous Christmases. Winter wouldn’t arrive until Christmas Day itself, and even then, she would only be there for the main lunch before heading back to the base. Whitley would be smarmy and infuriating for the majority of it. Father would be ranting about the injustices and inconveniences laid upon him by things that weren’t even close to injustices and could barely be seen as inconveniences. And Mother would be drunk the whole time. As usual.

All in all, from what she’d overheard of other people’s Christmases, and from what she’d seen on Christmas movies watched late at night with headphones, it was going to be completely different to a normal Christmas and not something worth thinking about. Weiss sighed as she looked up at the canopy over her bed. _Can I be bothered to lie?_

Weiss: It will most likely be rather dull and the less time spent thinking about it the better.

Ruby: Really?? Awwww that sucks! Christmas is supposed to awesome and fun!

Weiss let out a bark of laughter before she could stop herself. _Trust Ruby to sum it up in a single phrase so succinctly._

Weiss: Yes. It does suck.

Weiss: What about your Christmas? What will that be like?

Ruby’s response took much longer than normal, Weiss usually expecting a reply within seconds. Once it did come through though, she could tell why.

Ruby: Well, it’s usually pretty good? I mean my Dad goes absolutely crazy over Christmas, like he absolutely LOVES it. The tree went up back in November as soon as it wasn’t viewed as stupidly early to go up, like it’s still early to most people, but at least we don’t put it up before Halloween, I mean that’s just insane! And really rude to Halloween! But yeah we always buy brand new pyjamas to wear as a trio which Yang moans about but I think she secretly loves it because it's something that we’ve done since forever ago. We watch Die Tough with Spruce Willis because it’s a Christmas movie no matter what he says. Then on Christmas Day itself I’m banned from being the first up and out of my room, just because otherwise I’ll wake everyone else at about half four in the morning from excitement. Which is totally unfair! I wouldn’t do it that early...maybe 5 in the morning.

Ruby: Then we have a big lunch and my Uncle Qrow usually comes round for that, and then we watch the Muppet’s Christmas Tale as it’s the best Christmas movie ever and I will fight anyone who says different.

Weiss snorted, of course Ruby would enjoy that movie. Puppets and humans acting together in an adaptation of the ages old ‘A Christmas Tale’ that kept to the general story but added large amounts of comedy and silliness. It did keep the heart of the story though, and included the original heartstring tweaking moments of the book, delivered excellently by the lead actor, Michael Paine.

Weiss: I won’t fight you on that, I saw it several times myself when I was younger.

The two continued to message for a little bit more until Weiss yawned and said goodnight to Ruby, knowing she’d have to suffer a lecture from her Father if she was overly tired the next day.

The next day was Christmas Eve and, exactly like she’d told Weiss, Tai pulled out a fresh matching set of pyjamas for the three of them, plus a doggy jumper for Zwei. Yang rolled her eyes and tried to argue but Tai slipped the jumper on Zwei and held him up in front of Yang’s face.

“Come on Yang, surely you don’t want to disappoint this cute boy now? Hmm?” Zwei titled his head and even managed to pull a relatively sad face.

Yang stared Zwei in the eyes for a few seconds before he leaned forwards suddenly and gave her a quick lick. “Argh fine! Using Zwei is against the rules though, you know that!” She grabbed her set of pyjamas and headed off upstairs.

Tai slowly put Zwei back down and watched his eldest go. “Maybe I should stop after this year, she has been saying it for a while that it’s the last time she'll do it.”

“Maybe, but Yang says that every year! It’s as much tradition as the pyjamas itself!”

“Are you sure?” Ruby nodded but was still staring after Yang, “I’ll double check with her later, just in case.”

Ruby shrugged, “Fair enough. I think she enjoys it because it’s part of what we do as a family.” She gave him a hug, which he reciprocated, kissing the top of her head gently, “But I know how much you worry. You’re a great dad.” She could see the dark look that crossed Tai’s face quickly before he could mask it. “Daaaaaad. Stop it.”

He looked down at Ruby, “Sorry. I just...I still can’t forgive myself for when you and Yang were young.”

Ruby shook her head, “You came back to us. You’ve been here properly for ten years, and you’re here now. That’s what matters.”

“I guess so...”

They were interrupted by Yang coming down the stairs, flannel pyjamas with snowflakes dotted throughout the pattern, “Happy now?”

Tai smiled at her, discussion with Ruby forgotten, and Ruby knew she wouldn’t be able to drag him back to it. “Very! This’ll be the last year though, next year both of you will be at least sixteen, so should probably end it there.”

Yang snorted, “Yeah right old man. You’ll keep doing it and I’ll keep moaning about it.” She waved a hand as she walked past, “It’s a Christmas tradition. Now where’s Zwei gone?”

Ruby raised an eyebrow at and smirked at Tai who chuckled, “Yeah yeah, you were right, I know.”

For both Ruby and Weiss, Christmas proceeded exactly as they’d said to each other. Weiss’ family dinner was a stilted affair, her mother drinking more than the other family members combined and then some, keeping her poise the whole time despite ignoring virtually everything anyone said to her. Whitley had bragged about his school and how he was doing. The one highlight was Winter sitting next to Weiss, enabling the two to talk quietly.

In the Rose-Xiao Long household, Yang had insisted that neither Ruby or Tai buy her anything for Christmas after the bike for her birthday, and they’d mostly stuck to it, buying her something very small each as they’d argued she had to have _something_ to unwrap on Christmas Day. Then on Christmas Day itself, their Uncle Qrow had come round for Christmas dinner, telling exaggerated stories that had Yang and Ruby snorting with laughter and Tai chuckling at the ridiculousness of what students got up to in the college he worked at.

Even after Christmas had ended, Yang continued to enjoy her lie ins and lazy days, although she never skipped a day when she was due at the gym. Ruby on the other hand struggled to stay in bed or laze around, deciding that she needed to be productive in her time off from school, and spent the majority in the garage tinkering with small robotics she’d built with Penny in the previous Summer.

The Sunday after Christmas, she was in the garage at the little workbench she had at the back, a small selection of her tools hanging from a set of hooks Tai had installed three winters ago when she heard footsteps followed by a friendly and very recognisable voice. “Sal-u-tations Ruby my friend!”

Ruby whipped around to stare at her oldest friend, “Penny!” She sprinted over to her and gave her a massive hug, the two clinging to each other for a few moments. She pulled back to look at her, “When did you get back from your Dad’s? And oh my Gods your hair is so long!” Penny stepped back and did a quick twirl, her once shoulder length ginger hair now reaching halfway down her back.

Penny laughed, “I got back on Christmas Day itself! My Father dropped me off so I could spend some of the holiday with my Aunt. But I also wanted to see you again!”

Ruby smiled widely, “I’ve missed you Penny.”

“I have missed you too Ruby my friend! Do you want to come over? I have lots to tell you!”

Ruby nodded, stuck her head in the door and yelled, “Penny’s back! Going round hers for a while!”

Tai’s head stuck out the kitchen, “Penny’s back? Awesome! Course you can go round hers. Try not to blow anything up now alright?”

Ruby nodded, and shot out the door, coming to a halt in front of her best friend. “Ready to go!” Penny grinned in response and they started the relatively short walk to Penny’s Aunt’s house.

After greeting Penny's Aunt, the pair went in the garage-turned-living-room, two workbenches on one side, a tv mounted on the wall on the other side. They were both sat in spinning desk chairs opposite each other, Ruby absentmindedly spinning in hers as Penny finished tidying her workbench up, moving the tools to their respective hooks on the wall or little drawers.

Ruby waited patiently, noticing that Penny was making sure everything was extra neat and tidy, a habit she’d developed when she wanted to tell someone something but wasn’t sure how. “Penny? You know you can tell me anything right?” She reached over and gently put her hand on top of her best friend’s, giving her a smile. “You’re my best friend and that’s not going to change no matter what.”

“I know I can,” Penny smiled back, “I’m just trying to get the words in the right order.” She breathed in, and then looked directly at Ruby. “Do you remember that I thought there was something wrong with me? As in sexually and romantically?”

Ruby nodded, “Yeah, but like I said all those times, there’s nothing wrong with you. You’ll probably get those feelings later on in life or when you meet the right person, there’s nothing wrong with you.”

Penny smiled, “I know there isn’t now, I made a new friend at college in Atlas who is like me! Her name is Natalya, and she explained to me what it was that I was feeling. I’m acearo.”

Ruby blinked, confused. “You’re what now?”

Penny smiled softly back at Ruby and continued to explain, “I’m both asexual and aromantic. It means that I don’t feel sexual attraction, nor romantic attraction, towards people of any gender.”

Ruby’s eyes lit up, “Okay...That makes sense...I think. Wait, let me get this right, so it’s like how I’m not attracted to guys because I’m gay, you’re not attracted to anyone because you’re asexual? And you’re not interested in people romantically because you’re aromantic?”

Penny nodded vigorously, “Uh-huh! When I was at college my peer group of fellow students were discussing those they found attractive and what they wanted to do to, and with them, sexually, and I still found none of it appealing, just like in our previous school. I went to an LGBT group on campus to see if there was anything there that might help explain it, and that’s where I met Natalya.”

Ruby nodded slowly, she remembered that when they’d been at school Penny had always avoided discussing crushes or whether she found people attractive. The most anyone ever got out of her was that someone was “ _visually pleasing to look at_ ” and the pair had laughed at the confusion on the other girl’s face afterwards. Penny had been worried that something was wrong with her or that it was a delayed puberty, but Ruby had explained that maybe it’ll come later if she meets the right person. Remembering that, Ruby’s eyes widened, “Oh Brothers Penny I’m so sorry!”

Penny tilted her head, “What for?”

“When we were at school last year and just now when I said that you’ll experience those feelings if you meet the right person!”

Penny laughed, “It’s quite alright, I know you weren’t being insensitive, you genuinely didn’t know that being asexual and aromantic was a thing. Neither did I, but Natalya has really helped me!” Ruby felt warmth in her chest that Penny had found a friend and, from the sounds of it, a very good one too. “She is also acearo, and she sat down with me a few weeks ago and talked me through it, explaining what it feels like for her, and I felt very similar things to her, and it explains a lot of how I feel about people! It’s not very well known right now, but more people are learning about it, which is why we couldn’t find any answers when we first looked it up a couple of years ago.”

Ruby slipped off her chair and moved closer to Penny, holding her arms out. Penny immediately reciprocated and the two best friends hugged for a few seconds before pulling apart.

“I’m really, _really_ happy that you’ve found a friend, and somebody who is like you as well.”

Penny grinned at Ruby, “Thank you! It makes me very happy too. It’s incredibly nice to know someone else is just like me, but you’ll always be my best friend though.” They hugged again squeezing each other tightly before letting go. “Now, shall we go back to working on this robotic arm?”

“Yup!” Ruby grinned.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Oh my god it hurt so much to type in text speak for Yang, but I feel like it would be how she’d text. My autocorrect absolutely HATED me for it though.
> 
> I feel like Ruby would also text in a similar manner, but Weiss refused to reply unless she texted in actual English haha
> 
> As always, thank you so much for reading this, any comments, bookmarks, kudos, or anything is always greatly appreciated :)


	8. January Year 1

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The New Year has come and gone, as has Weiss' birthday...not that anyone knows it though.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Phew. It's been a ride to get this finished. I've had half of it written since the middle of December and then just struggled a hell of a lot to get this one finished, but it's finally in a place where I'm mostly happy with it!
> 
> The time wasn't wasted though, I've actually got parts of a couple of other chapters written (February year TWO, so not the next chapter, and the next August) both of which have some interesting things go down so it'll help in the future. That's all I'm saying though, so no spoilers!

“So...this is everyone. Well, almost everyone. Everyone, this is Weiss.” Weiss rolled her eyes behind Ruby’s back.

“Ruby I know all of them already, Blake and Yang are in our homeroom, I have several classes with Pyrrha…”

“Hello!” The redhead waved and smiled very warmly at Weiss, who smiled back at her.

“You know I have the unfortunate experience of knowing who Jaune is.” Weiss gave him a frosty glare, and he looked away in response, laughing nervously. “I have Biology and German with Nora and Ren…”

“Hi.” Ren nodded at Weiss, and Nora grinned.

“Howdy Ice Queen!”

Weiss rolled her eyes again, a bit more forcefully this time, as Sun followed his greeting up and waved with Neptune beside him, “And I have had to _suffer_ Biology and History with those two.” She turned to Ruby, “And you brought me away from studying for this?”

“Careful Schnee, your inner bitch is showing through. Oh wait, that’s normal for a Schnee.”

Ruby instantly paled and several people winced, as Ilia sat down with her tray and shot Weiss a withering look.

“Wow. I think that’s the most words you’ve said to me since you insulted my family and I, then stormed off in a sulk when I corrected you on several incorrect points.” Weiss looked at Ilia directly whose cheeks went bright red, her visible scales flashing pink in response.

“Ilia…” Blake put a hand on Ilia’s arm to calm her down, but it was clearly ignored.

“Spoken like a politician and a Schnee. Still dodging the first question I asked you and turning it back without ever answering it.” Ilia was clearly still hung up on their initial disagreement several weeks prior.

“What would you like me to say? To proclaim that my Father is a racist, homophobic, misogynistic imbecile and to shout from the rooftops that the Faunus are treated appallingly?” Weiss glared back at Ilia.

“It would be a start.” Ilia smirked at her, whilst everyone seemed frozen and not sure when to butt in to end it.

“Well regardless of whether I agree with it or not, it would serve no purpose at all other than to get my status as heiress removed, and to leave me unable to do anything to correct the injustices suffered in the past and prevent more in the future. Maybe I avoid commenting on the poor practices because that’s my actual aim?”

“Uh-huh. Of _course_ it is. That’s why the only people you insulted when you got here were either a Faunus or someone who is best friends with a Faunus. Still makes you racist.”

“I think we should calm down a little guys.” Yang lifted her hands up to try and make a bit of room between the two girls who had steadily moved closer and closer to one another.

“No, I also insulted Jaune. Which I did because he’s Jaune.”

“Hey!” Jaune finally found his voice.

“That’s fair.”

Nora couldn’t help but snort at Ilia’s agreement even if Pyrrha looked a little put out. Nobody else questioned it as they had all heard or seen his attempts to get Weiss on a date with him, even if he hadn’t tried for several weeks now, so they couldn’t really blame her for not liking him much.

“And I insulted Sun and Neptune because they’re both disrespectful idiots who disturb the class. I couldn’t care less if Sun is a Faunus or not, he’s a clown.” 

Ilia turned to Sun expecting a response from him to defend himself but all she got was a shrug, “Hey, she’s got me there, you know I’m a clown.” He honked his nose and him and Neptune burst out laughing. Most of the others had small smiles or smirks except for Weiss who just groaned.

“See? The fact he’s got a tail makes no difference to me. The only other person I have an issue with here is you, and that’s because all you see about me is my name. It’s just as bad as if all I saw about you was the fact you’re a Faunus.” Weiss folded her arms and stared daggers at Ilia, daring a reply.

Ilia opened her mouth, but Blake gently pulled at her shoulder, causing her to finally break eye contact and look at Blake.

“She’s right Ilia. We can’t just judge her without getting to know her properly. If it turns out she’s an ice-cold bitch who hates Faunus, then I won’t get in your way.”

“Wow Blake, thank you for the excellent support from my fellow class representative.” Weiss deadpanned at Blake who merely smiled back.

“I grew up with a lot of Faunus, so I’m not exactly a fan of the Schnee name either, but so far you’ve not done anything to earn dislike or hatred from me.” Blake looked her in the eyes, “Yet.”

“That’s fair, and the best I could hope for I guess.” Weiss nodded at Blake.

Ilia was still clearly uneasy though, even if she could tell she was on the losing side.

Ruby leaned forward, “Umm, I don’t know if it actually means anything, but Weiss has spent quite a bit of time with me and she’s not said anything negative about Faunus at any point.”

Ilia looked at Ruby for a moment and sighed, “Fine. I’ll give her a chance. You at least haven’t screamed your racism to the sky like Cardin did ages ago.”

Weiss snorted, “I don’t think anyone could do it quite so obviously and have it go so spectacularly badly as that idiot.”

Everyone at the table chuckled at that. Cardin had gone from being a tough guy with occasional bullying tendencies who was popular because he was on the American football team, to being pretty unpopular outside of the more traditionally masculine based sports teams (excluding the boxing and half of the wrestling team due to Yang and Sun respectively) or others with racist views. Such was the influence of Coco Adel; Alongside calling his racism out, crushing his balls and then threatening to further impale them with her heels, she’d taken a liking to Velvet and included her in her small circle. 

Coco was the year above Ruby and her group of friends but had started at the same time having transferred in from a different school. This hadn’t hampered her at all, the fact she was the heir to the Adel fashion house had given her immense bragging rights (not that she ever used them really) and reputation in the school. Surprising most people though, she had immediately latched onto an existing duo of Fox Alistair and Yatsuhashi Daichi, two otherwise loners who, whilst not being overly popular, were never bullied. 

That was partially because there was a rumour that Fox was a ninja, something nobody had ever heard Fox refute, (he did occasionally agree with it, albeit sarcastically), but also because at well over six foot six and with arms and legs the size of tree trunks, Yatsuhashi looked like he could crush the school. The fact he was as gentle as a flower and quiet as a mouse were also well known, but all of the bullies had almost made an agreement that it might be best _not_ to push him. 

Just in case.

Velvet still came by to see her old friends Blake, Sun, Neptune, and Ilia, but mostly she let them hang out with the new group, although she’d introduced herself to them as well. They in turn didn’t push it, as they’d been hoping she would break out of her shell a little bit, as she’d been rather shy. From what they’d seen so far of her since she’d started hanging out with Coco, she’d been a bit more outgoing and willing to speak up.

The rest of the lunch was spent with Weiss eating her salad next to Ruby whilst talking with Yang and Blake, the others mostly having their own conversations, but they all ended up chipping into various conversations at some point.

“Excuse me?”

“You heard me Ice Queen! What’s the best pancake style? American or French?” Ren rolled his eyes as Nora pointed her knife at Weiss, who looked at everyone to see if it was normal to be threatened with a weapon. The fact that nobody seemed to bat an eye other than Ruby and Ren said that it was. “Well? The size of the French or the thickness of the American?” Nora jabbed the knife towards her a little more and Weiss felt her hand twitch with her own knife.

“Nora, put the knife down.” Ren reached over and lowered Nora’s hand, at which point she seemed to realise that she’d been gesturing with the knife.

“Whoops! Thanks Ren.” She put it down and then started pointing with her finger instead. “American or French?”

“French.”

“A-ha! Close! It’s French size with American thickness. None of that thin shit, I want a thick pancake! But you got the size correct at least, so you’re above Sun, Neptune, Blake, and Yang.”

Weiss blinked and looked around at the others, the confusion clearly evident on her face.

Ruby leaned over and whispered, “She rates people on how they take their pancakes, size is above thickness, so the French is higher than American.”

“So why am I higher than the others?” Weiss wasn’t whispering as Nora had changed subject and was now talking with Pyrrha about the upcoming athletics trials next month.

“Well, they all picked American over French, so they go below you, and then you’re below everyone who picked French because you’re new to it and you don’t have any additional boosts.”

Weiss raised an eyebrow and Ruby chuckled, “Yeah, that’s how we all reacted too. Ren is at the top because it’s Ren and he actually _makes_ Nora pancakes, so no one will ever be higher, then Pyrrha and Jaune are below him because they’re in the same class, then it’s me and Ilia because we’re in different classes but have hung out with Nora longer.” She shrugged, “It sorta makes sense.”

Weiss shook her head and went back to eating her salad, still a little confused as to why someone would rate how she viewed other people based on how they took their pancakes, but it did seem in keeping with Nora. By the end of the lunch break Ilia still hadn’t spoken to Weiss anymore, which she was grateful for, as at least no further arguments had sprung up. As her and Ruby walked towards their next class, which for Ruby was double Art and for Weiss a free, Ruby kept looking at Weiss, not exactly subtly either. “Go on then, what is it?”

“Huh? What? What do you mean?” Ruby jumped at Weiss’ words.

“You keep looking at me, so there’s clearly something you want to ask me.”

“Well…” Ruby tapped her fingers together, something she knew was a nervous habit of hers, but wasn’t something she could stop doing. “Are you going to hang out with all of us again? Or just go back to the library?”

Weiss was silent for a moment as they reached the Art rooms, “Pyrrha’s company is enjoyable, Blake isn’t annoying, neither is Ren. I suspect Pyrrha is keeping Jaune under control around me, and I _know_ that Ren is keeping Nora under control - as best he can anyway. Neptune and Sun are impossible to deal with generally, and Ilia mostly just gives me a death stare. Yang’s puns are dreadful, but I suppose I could put up with them.” She looks directly at Ruby, “So yes, I will sit with all of you again. Not every day, I still need to keep up with my studies and so I’ll be spending some days in the library too.”

Ruby’s face lit up with happiness at Weiss joining up with her other friends and not needing to worry about splitting her time anymore. “Wait...what about me? You didn’t include me?” She looked to Weiss with a slightly puzzled look that bordered on unhappiness.

Weiss just scoffed and patted Ruby on the head, “If I couldn’t stand you or put up with you, then I’d have told you.” Then she walked away waving a little behind her as Ruby blinks and reaches up to touch her hair where Weiss had patted it.

\--------------------------------------------

“Many happy returns, sister. I apologise as I’m unable to be there in person Weiss, but I hope you received the present I sent. I was assured it would reach you on your birthday itself.” Weiss finished reading the message she had been sent by Winter and smiled to herself. _At least Winter cares that it’s my birthday._ Weiss had appreciated her present, which as Winter had been assured, did arrive on her birthday. It was a fresh set of fencing gloves, embossed with Weiss’ signature snowflake just above the wrist, and they fit perfectly, tight enough that she felt them and could move her hand and fingers freely, but with enough space it wasn’t constricting.

A knock on the door brought her back to the real world and she placed the gloves down carefully on the dressing table before walking to the door and opening it, a smile breaking across her face. “Hello Klein.”

“Hello, my dear little snowflake.” Casting a quick glance down the hall he grasped her hands in his and gave her a massive smile, his moustache wiggling a little in his happiness. “I’m so happy to see you again, I wish I could be the one to look after you in Vale, but we both know your father wouldn’t let me. I hope Geoffrey is treating you kindly in my stead.”

Weiss felt herself smile at the man and squeezed his hands quickly before letting go and following him towards the main dining room of the Schnee Manor in Atlas. “No one could ever do a job as well as you Klein, but Geoffrey is being kind to me.”

Klein smiled at her again, “I’ll make sure to bring you a piece of blueberry cake after the meal. No doubt you’ll need it.” His tone was a little stony, but Weiss knew it wasn’t directed at her and she smiled and thanked him before heading the last few steps to the main dining room.

Weiss’ smile was forced, not that anyone would be able to tell, as she sat next to her father, trying to ignore his ranting about the latest unfair stock prices. The stock drop was down to the people who had brought a litigation for poor working practices as well as the reporters who had put it in the news, but not him or the poor way the company had handled it, they’d handled it perfectly. _Obviously._

“But I mean of course they’re going to moan, until they learn that the only way to escape from the wretched lives, they have is to pull themselves up by their own bootstraps. Until then they’ll moan and whine about how unfair their lives are without ever trying to fix it themselves.” The man sitting opposite her father was someone that Weiss had never seen before, but figured he was another person who had something her father wanted in some way.

“You’re absolutely right, my father managed it, your father-in-law managed it, that awful Musk fellow managed it too, as did that Bezos fool. It’s absolutely possible if only they’d _try_.”

“Yes, well what a pity for them that they’re so lazy that they refuse to do anything, next thing you know they’ll be asking us to feed them!” Weiss struggled not to let her distaste show on her face as the rest of the table laughed. Even when she’d been in more agreement with her father on some of his views, she’d never been _that_ heartless towards those less fortunate than her, and since she’d gotten to know Ruby and spend more time with her, she’d noticed herself moving further and further away from agreeing with _anything_ he said.

“Say Jacques, it’s been quite a while since your Weiss there went on a date, I’m sure my son would be a great fit.” Weiss felt herself shrivel as she looked to the teenager sitting next to his father slightly further down the table, his hair slathered in enough hair gel to outfit a hairdresser’s for months, and a small and weaselly looking face that no doubt matched his personality, especially if his father was anything to go by.

“The offer is appreciated Tobias; however, Weiss is far too busy with schoolwork at the moment to think about dating anyone, but I’ll be sure to keep young...Tarquin in mind once she finishes college though.” Jacques raised a glass to the pair who both smiled in sync back at him.

Weiss knew that the rejection wasn’t for her benefit, no matter how poorly the last date her father had set her up on had gone. She was unable to suppress a slight shiver but managed to stop herself reaching for her neck as she remembered it. Whilst Jacques had his way, she’d only be allowed to date people he approved of, and that list was limited to people whose companies he either wanted directly under his own hand or would help the Schnee Conglomerate grow even further. Tobias’ company was neither one of those.

“Speaking of Weiss though, why don’t you sing a song for us my dear? It is your birthday celebration after all.”

Despite the wording, Weiss knew it wasn’t a request but an order that she would do well to obey. Smiling at her father again, she rose and walked to a space just behind the head of the table where everyone could see her. Opening her mouth, she closed her eyes and began to sing.

“ _Mirror, tell me something, Tell me who's the loneliest of all?_ ”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> And finally everyone is together! I'm hoping the next chapter won't kick my ass as much as this one has and I can get onto writing it soon as!
> 
> As always, thank you so much to anyone who comments, bookmarks, subscribes, gives kudos, or hell, even just reads it! It's really really appreciated and I love every one of y'all.


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